Bombshell
by CanadianChick07
Summary: Ash Spencer doesn't just show up to have a beer with Clay, he definitely has a lot more to tell his son.
1. Chapter 1

As it turns out, Ash Spencer wasn't there just to catch up and have a beer with Clay. He made that perfectly clear when Clay saw the news and saw Ash on TV spilling the news that he knew of insider information and he was going to exploit his relationship with his son. Clay was furious. And he wanted absolutely nothing with his father after seeing the interview.

They walked out the bar and Ash was chattering on about the second book deal and most of it was going in one ear and out the other. Suddenly Ash stopped outside of Clay's car and turned to his son. He became quiet and Clay knew Ash was about to drop another bombshell on him. "You're right, I didn't just come here to have a beer. I have something to tell you."

"Ash, just get it out," Clay was disgusted with his father's actions and just wanted to leave, go home and have a beer in peace and figure out his next moves from there.

Ash grimaced. "You have a half sister."

Whatever Clay was expecting, it wasn't that. "Excuse me?"

"Her name is Kelsey. She's 21 or 22, I'm not exactly sure."

Clay wanted to punch his father, lights out, KO, right then and there. A half sister? Whoa. What the hell else was Ash hiding? "I have a half sister who's 21 and you're just telling me now?"

Ash held up his hand. "Kelsey's mother wanted to shield her from my life."

"Gee, I wonder why," Clay spat out.

His father shook his head. "I get it kid, you're pissed at me and I can see the fire in your eyes and before you punch me, just hear me out. She's a Marine, she's doing TBS at Quantico and wants to meet you. And before you ask her, no, I haven't had much contact with her during my life. I paid child support and that was it."

So many things were running through Clay's mind. A half sister, who was military and doing The Basic School only 3 hours from him in Quantico? Holy shit. That was a lot to process. So much to think about. Instead he took the card from Ash that had Kelsey's number on it and put it in his back pocket. "I'll think about it," he said and got in his car.

He had so many thoughts on his way home that he barely remembered the drive. He had a half sister. A sister. Who was now military and got his way of life and got the craziness of having Ash Spencer as a father. And he just learned of her now. What a crazy turn of events. He leaned against his door once he closed it and sighed heavily. He grabbed a beer from his fridge and fished the card from his pocket. All it said was _Kelsey Vanderhoek. 480-013-3214._ So, she didn't share the infamous last name of Spencer.

Before he lacked the balls to do it, he got out his phone and decided to text her. If he didn't do it now, he would lack the nerve. He knew she might not text back, given her probably rigorous schedule at TBS and the fact she might be in the field right now. And the fact that, like him, she might need time to process all this.

 _Hey Kelsey, this is Clay Spencer. Ash finally told me about you and said you wanted to meet. I'd like the chance as well. I know you're at TBS so just let me know when you're free and I'll work something out on my end._

* * *

Two and a half weeks later, Clay found himself on the I-64, on his way to Quantico, to meet his little sister. It had taken her a couple days to reply, as she was on a field exercise. And then he had been spun up to Mali with the boys. And then she was busy that weekend she got back so finally they had managed to make something work- Saturday afternoon.

He drove a bar in Triangle, which was the town just outside Quantico, where he and Kelsey agreed to meet. He found her sitting on a table outside the bar, in civilian clothes, with her blonde hair down. She was scrolling through something on her phone but lifted her head up when she saw him approaching.

"Ma'am," he greeted.

Her face broken into a smile. "Chief Petty Officer," she greeted back, laughing as she got off the table to hug him.

As he stepped back, he had a smile on his face. "Having a little sister who outranks me is a little weird." He was just glad she wasn't in uniform, being a 2nd Lieutenant where he would really then have to ma'am her.

She started to walk into the bar. "Please don't ma'am me again," she laughed. "It's weird enough thinking about the fact that people have to ma'am a 21 year old and then to think that my older brother now technically has to."

"You're gonna have to get used to people ma'am'ing you," he said as they sat down at a table.

"So, I bet you have some questions."

He raised an eyebrow. "A few. But how did you find this place?" It looked like his type of bar.

The waitress had already brought a beer for Kelsey, obviously she was a regular. Clay just ordered something on tap. "My step-dad. He's a Master Sergeant, stationed at Camp Pendleton. Spent some time at Quantico in his career and he told me about this place."

"So you're a Marine brat then?"

She sipped her beer. "No. Definitely not."

"Then how did you end up in the Corps? To piss Ash off? Because that is a great way to do it." Clay could just imagine Ash's head exploding when he found out his daughter was going into the military, then finding out she was going into the Marine Corps and to top it all off- she was going officer, not enlisted. Definitely would have made his head explode.

She nodded. "There were definitely some words said when he found out I was going into the Corps. No, Ash didn't find out until after I had done OCS and was commissioned."

"Would have loved to heard that conversation."

"I guess we should start with the beginning," Kelsey said. "I don't really know how it happened, I've never asked questions, but my mom had a couple months left on her tour in the IDF when she got knocked up."

Clay rubbed his hand over his face. Leave it to Ash to get a woman pregnant in a foreign military. "Wow, okay, continue."

"My grandmother is Israeli, my grandfather is Dutch. They all moved back to the Netherlands after spending about 10 years in Israel. My mom gave birth to me in the Netherlands. We lived there for about 5 years before my grandpa got a job over here. He was a big shot Wall Street banker. We moved to the States. So I hold three citizenship's- Israeli, Dutch and US."

"I thought the Netherlands wasn't a dual citizenship country?"

She sipped her beer and raised an eyebrow and then decided she was talking to a US Navy SEAL, it was his job to know those facts. "It isn't. But I renewed my Dutch passport two years ago and nobody said anything. They are changing their citizenship laws this year to be a little more relaxed."

"Three citizenship's will be hell to get a top secret clearance," Clay commented.

She just rolled her eyes, she already knew but she would wait to drop that bombshell on him. "My mom raised me as a single mom for a long time. We moved around a lot. She followed my grandpa into finance and is doing quite well for herself. We found ourselves in Scottsdale, Arizona my senior year of University where she met my step-dad. Who is a Master Sergeant. She moved to Oceanside after marrying him, I decided to go to ASU. Somehow walked on to the varsity soccer team there and partied my ass off. Right around the time that I had chosen a difficult major and was contemplating life decisions, a recruiter showed up at a soccer practice. Turned out he had been watching me ever since I was doing track in high school as he had a poolee that went to the same high school as me. He found out I had a new step-dad that was a Master Sergeant and thought it would be a great time to approach me."

"You got recruited, wow."

She shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "It took a lot of convincing between Jon, my step-dad, and the recruiter but finally I caved and signed a NROTC contract. Went to OCS between my junior and senior years and now I'm here."

"You find out your MOS yet?" Clay asked. He knew a little bit from how TBS worked, where officers found out their career choice at the end of the six month course, from a Marine who had been attached to the first SEAL team he had been in.

She took a long sip of her beer. "0204."

Clay racked his brain and then raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Intelligence. Wow, good job. Don't you have to go to Infantry Officer Course?" The Corps hadn't exactly been progressive about putting woman in combat jobs. And Intelligence was hard to get into, it was competitive and there were usually only one or two slots open, if that.

Kelsey shook her head. "In 0203 you do as that is ground intel. 0204 is human intel."

"I'm sensing a but coming."

"I've been asked if I'd consider going to IOC."

"How many women have passed IOC?"

She smiled briefly. "2."

Clay sipped his beer. "Does anybody know that you are Ash Spencer's daughter?"

"Only one other person. My best friend here. We went through OCS, we were tight then, both in NROTC but she's going to be a pilot actually and we never thought we'd be in the same TBS class but here we are. She'd never rat on me though."

Clay thought carefully on his words. "Take it from me, do not let anyone else know you are. They will make your life living hell, even if you are in the Corps. And if you successfully graduate IOC, which I have faith you will, he will exploit that and use that for publicity. Do not let anyone know you are his daughter."

"Advice taken. Enough about me. What about you? What's your story?"

Clay rolled his eyes and sipped on his beer. "Oh boy. Well, my mom died when I was young so I was raised by her parents. Lived in Florida my whole early life. Decided in high school that I was going to go Navy and ended up following the old man's steps."

"So I'm guessing the last name Spencer has caused you some trouble being a SEAL?"

Clay shrugged. "It's more convincing people that I'm not him and I'm not anything like him, has been the problem."

She rolled her eyes. She could see some of their father in Clay. "Yeah, okay," she said sarcastically. "You're a DEVGRU operator, don't lie to me, you're going to step on a few toes on the climb to the top."

"Nobody said you weren't observant," Clay said.

Kelsey shrugged. "Ash was never really involved in my life. He'd show up once a year though, give me a birthday present. Without fail. No matter where we were living, or if my mom refused to tell him where we were living, Ash would find us."

"Yeah, he's good at that," Clay admitted. "When did you find out about me?"

"Not until this spring. My mom wanted to wait until I was 18 and it was my choice and then the book deal came out and she got spooked. She wanted to distance me from Ash as much as possible. That and she knew you were a SEAL, she didn't know how much you took after our father. Jon told her that wasn't her choice to make. So they decided to wait a little while and my mom really had her reservations about dragging me farther down Ash's hole, because she had heard rumblings of a second book deal. However, Jon told her that with me at Quantico and you being at Little Creek there was a low, but still a chance, I could meet you. After all, the military world is very small. She agreed. Jon showed up on my doorstep, pounding on my door at 6 am, on a Saturday, like any good Master Sergeant should be checking up on his now 21 year old daughter in NROTC ,with a bombshell.

"I was very hung over, drinking coffee and taking aspirin by the handful and he was giving me a lecture in his very Master Sergeant voice when he takes out your picture and tells me I have a half brother, who is a US Navy SEAL. I reached out to Dad pretty quickly after and yelled, and yelled and yelled some more. And then I told him I wanted to meet you."

Clay smiled at Kelsey. "I'm glad you reached out to Ash."

"And I'm glad you texted me. But I have to ask, why the bitterness towards him?"

He sighed. He didn't even go into depths with his relationship with his Dad to Stella, but this was his sister. Probably the only person on this planet who could probably begin to understand the fucked up relationship he had with their father. "It was like your life, a revolving door of appearances. When I needed him, he was nowhere to be found. I guess you know. Nobody else understands but you do."

"Oh I know, I know," Kelsey said.

"The rage right now comes from two weeks ago. He showed up at my place three weeks ago, with some bullshit about wanting to go for a beer. I blew him off and then I was spun up. I was intrigued so I decided to meet. He took a call from his fucking publisher and then there was a TV interview on in the bar so I got the bartender to turn it up. He was bragging about how he had insider information, about an op in Saudi. An op I was on."

"Son of a bitch," she breathed hard and finished her beer. "Son a bitch. Doesn't even surprise me. I guess that's why you told me to let nobody know I'm Ash Spencer's daughter because he will exploit it."

"If you do go to Infantry Officer Course, make sure he doesn't know. When do you have to give your decision?"

She shrugged. "Next week."

"You can leave for a weekend, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, if we want to. I don't usually."

"Come down to where we are. We'll make sure you're ready for IOC before you give your answer."

Kelsey smiled. "You're on. Girlfriend is not going to mind?" she teased, like a little sister would.

He rolled his eyes. "There is no girlfriend."

"That's definitely a sore subject. Recent breakup?"

Clay ran his hand over his face after he downed the rest of his beer. "Yeah," he decided to lead with the truth. "Told me she couldn't be a SEAL girlfriend basically. Couldn't do the lifestyle."

"Ouch. I'm sorry."

"What about you. Any boyfriends I need to beat the fear of God into like a big brother should be?"

Kelsey laughed, because she'd pay money to see that. She could have used a big brother's older judgement against her high school boyfriend's, that's for sure. "No. There's a guy from back home but not many guys really want to be Mr. Kelsey Vanderhoek. I'm pretty career orientated right now and I'm gunning for MARSOC. I've been told that it would be hard to live up to me, being my boyfriend."

"Then I guess he'll have to be a hell of a guy to keep up with you."

"Hey, when was the last time you had any real fun?" she asked, posing the question like a little sister would.

He shrugged. "That's a loaded question, Kels."

She tilted her head towards the door. "Let's go bowling. Victoria and I were thinking about going later. My platoon and I are really tight; I can probably drum up some of them and make it even more fun. There's a bar there and well if you drink too much, there's a Marine base with free rooms for squids like yourself."

He was starting to see her happy go lucky demeanour. "And how are you planning to explain me?"

She shrugged. "Victoria knows the truth but to the rest of them, you can be a friend from ASU who is in the area. I only have to spend four more weeks with these jokers, so who cares."

"Alright, let's go bowling." For the first time in weeks, Clay was actually excited to be out and about. He didn't know any of this crowd that Kelsey was bringing along with but if she was friends with them and they were military, he'd probably get along with them. And it was nice to be away from Virginia Beach as well.

Kelsey had a big smile as Clay put a couple bills down on the table for their drinks and followed her out of the bar. "Come on, sailor. Let's go have some fun."

Clay put his arm around his little sister's shoulders as they walked outside. He knew her statement of "let's go have some fun," was double meaning- about tonight and about life. He was certainly glad for the little ray of sunshine named Kelsey Vanderhoek that showed up in his life when he needed someone the most. He just didn't think it would come in the form of a little sister.

* * *

 **AN: Just an idea that popped into my head. I don't normally write Clay so let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

Monday morning, Clay was in civilian clothes but marched himself right into Blackburn's office. Blackburn's eyebrows went up and suspicions were raised when Clay closed the door behind him and sat down, without a word.

"I'm not going to like this am I?" Blackburn asked.

Clay shrugged. "Probably not. I need to change my emergency contact."

"I already took Stella off," Blackburn said.

Clay figured his commanding officer would do him a solid on that one. "Change it from Ash."

Blackburn raised his eyebrows again. "You have a new girlfriend that I need to know about?"

He shook his head. "I need to add my half sister."

Blackburn's pen dropped onto the table and he studied the SEAL in front of him. Nope, he wasn't joking. "Ash, huh?"

Clay leaned back in the seat. "Came by around three weeks ago to drop some un-holy bombshells on me. One being that I have a younger half sister."

"I take it you've met, already?"

He sighed. "Went up there this weekend. She's 21, and a 2nd Lieutenant doing TBS at Quantico."

Blackburn laughed at that point. Leave to Ash's daughter to give a big old "F YOU" by becoming a Marine officer. "Wow. And let me guess, she's not going to be a supply officer, is she?"

"No. That's why I'm really here. She's going Intel. And probably doing some time here at Dam Neck for her MOS school. But, her SPC at TBS is pushing her to do Infantry Officer Course right after she graduates from TBS in four weeks."

His commanding officer was floored. Ash Spencer's daughter was definitely going to one up her old man if she pulled off successfully graduating from IOC. Hell, just attempting IOC as a female was an accomplishment. "Do you think she can do it? That's one hell of a thing to have in her basket, having a 0311 for a secondary MOS." Only 2 women in the Corps had successfully added Infantry to their MOS. It would be a huge uphill battle for Kelsey if she decided to do it.

"No kidding, gonna open a lot of doors for her. She told me she's gunning for MARSOC," Clay said. He was impressed that Kelsey wanted to go for Marine Special Operations. She definitely had lofty career goals. "I think she can. She's kept in shape during TBS which a lot of Lieutenants don't do. We drank pretty hard Saturday night and we were working out at the gym on base at 07 00 the next morning."

"What do you need me for?"

"Give her access to the base?" Clay asked. He knew that was the easy ask. "I told her to come down here this weekend if she doesn't have homework and she can use having an older brother as a SEAL to her advantage."

Blackburn nodded. "Ask Ray."

Clay was taken a back by that comment. "Why Ray?"

"You're going to need someone who's led a Green Team to evaluate her to see if she can really hack it at IOC, presuming what this little weekend is about?"

"Yeah, her worry is the marches and carrying 100 lbs which hell, I'd be worried about too," Clay replied.

The Lt. Commander nodded again. "Ray Perry is probably the only former Green Team instructor on this entire base who won't take her gender against her or have a problem with it. Like or not Spencer, this is an exclusive male club. She's going to have to get used to it to the unfairness and the thought that women shouldn't belong in combat. She will. But for an evaluation, let's not throw her gender against her straight out of the bat. She'll have enough of a hard time at IOC. Let's see if she can hack it physically first."

"You're okay using SEAL resources for a Marine?" That was Clay's biggest worry about asking Blackburn for help regarding Kelsey.

Blackburn shrugged and leaned back against his chair. "If it means helping a woman pass Infantry Officer Course, by all fucking means. We need more women in combat. Is it is a little unfair that she has a brother who is a Tier 1 operator and has the means at his disposal? Yeah, but I think of it as leveling the playing field."

Clay stood. "I like the way you think. I'll talk to Ray. Thanks."

"She'll need an eval with land nav, right?"

Clay nodded. "Yeah. That's a big component of IOC. She said she's been doing pretty good with it at TBS though."

Blackburn smiled. "I have an idea for the whole team and her on Sunday, if she's not dead after you and Ray are done with her. We'll call it a team training event."

Clay liked the way his commanding officer thought. "Thanks again," he said and went in search of Ray.

He found the Senior Chief on the treadmill in mile 4. He decided to go to the adjacent treadmill and he knew Ray saw him so he shut it off. Ray shook his head and took off his headphones. "What's up brother?"

"How's your fitness?"

Ray cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well you did just find me at the gym so I think you have your answer."

"How's your fitness?"

Ray glared at Clay as he took a sip of water and had his heart rate continue to slow down. He walked away from the treadmill and sat down on a bench. "What's going on Clay?"

"Well…"

There was another glare. "Spit it out."

"I need some help."

"Some relationship help? Fitness help? You're not giving me a lot to go on."

"One question first. What's your view on women in combat?"

Ray looked at him really weird. "I think if they can pass all the physical requirements, and it not be lowered for them to complete it, I don't have a problem with women in combat. I think there should be more, actually. They have a different perspective than us males on situations. That's a really odd question coming from you, Spencer."

Clay grimaced and decided Ray's answer was acceptable. Blackburn was right- Ray was probably the only former Green Team leader who viewed women to be okay in combat. He then decided to just spill. "I have a half sister," he held up his hand before Ray could continue talking. "Ash came by about three weeks ago and dropped the news on me. Anyways, her name is Kelsey, she is a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps and doing The Basic School at Quantico right now."

Ray almost choked on his water. "Holy fuck. You have a half sister you didn't know about this entire time?"

"Yeah. Went up at met this past weekend."

Ray was quiet for a second. "And I'm guessing your question about women in combat has to do with her career choice."

He nodded and sat down on a bench opposite to Ray. "Officially she's 0204, human intelligence. In 0203 you have to go to IOC. She didn't really want to go and she's gunning for MARSOC anyways and the powers that be and her decided 0204 was a little better career path to there. However, her SPC wants her to go to IOC."

Ray thought about it and ran his hand over his beard. "The washout rate for men is something like 25%! And she thinks she can do it?"

"Her SPC does. Look, I told her to come down this weekend and use the fact that she has a brother as a SEAL to her advantage."

Ray nodded and laughed. "You want me to evaluate her in the field and see if she can do it," he surmised.

"Yeah. I talked to Blackburn and he said you were probably the only former Green Team leader on his whole base who wouldn't use her gender against her and who would evaluate her fairly."

Ray took that as a compliment from his commanding officer. "So what's the longest ruck she needs to pass?"

"15 miles, at 105 pounds in under three hours."

Ray whistled. "I guess we are going rucking this weekend."

* * *

It was Friday night and the boys, sans Jason who was at Mikey's hockey game, were at the bar. Clay kept checking his phone as Kelsey said she would text him when she got close and meet him at his apartment. He didn't really want her to meet the guys at the bar, deal with the impending fall out where there was alcohol and given her exhausting week, she needed the sleep before an even more tiring weekend ahead of her.

Clay was talking to Trent when he could hear Sonny turn to the door. "Damn, she's hot and she's definitely not from around here."

And to his surprise, that was his sister that Sonny was talking about and she was walking straight towards their ground. He turned to her. "What are you doing here? You said you'd be here in half an hour and you'd text me."

She shrugged. "Sped a little and there's a little app you made me download so you could spy on me, called find my friends."

Clay rolled his eyes but kissed her head. "You look like shit." He was fully aware of the fact that everyone was watching them but he made no introductions. He knew Ray knew exactly who the woman was who walked in the door but everyone else was probably thinking it was a new girlfriend.

"Given my week and my lack of hygiene given where I was up until three hours ago when I got in my truck, I think that's a compliment," Kelsey fired back.

Clay and Ray both tried to hide the chuckles, knowing where she was and exactly how she felt from a couple days in the field because they had also been there done, that and got that dirty t-shirt. The others, were a little mystified at her quick retort and it was something a girl wouldn't usually publicly admit to. "Let's get out of here and get some food into you and so you can have a shower."

Before they walked out the door, Kelsey turned around and winked at the group. "See ya around, boys."

Clay glared at her as they walked out. "Are you trying to antagonize them with that whole conversation?"

She shrugged as he held the door open for her. "Just following your lead as you didn't seem too interested at introducing me to them."

"You're a smart ass," Clay muttered.

"I've been called worse."

He rolled his eyes at his sister. "Just follow me," he eyed her F-150. "Why do you have California plates?"

She glared at him and didn't give him a response, choosing to just get in the truck and follow him to his apartments. They pulled up to some non-descript apartments and she grabbed her rucksack out of her truck and followed him in.

"I still feel a little dirty letting someone with a Corps rucksack into my apartment," Clay commented as he held the door open.

She laughed. "Would you feel better if it was Barbie pink?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Spare bedroom is on the left. Towels are in the bathroom. I'm going to get us some takeout while you have a shower."

She smiled as she set her rucksack down. "Thanks bro."

Kelsey was on the couch, in sweats and a baggy t-shirt, with her long blonde hair down as it was still soaking wet when Clay came in the door. With food. And a visitor. She stood, eyeing the man at the door.

"He saw the Corps rucksack and wondered who the hell I could possibly be betraying the Navy for," Clay explained. "Senior Chief Derek Brown. He belongs to Alpha and lives across the hall."

Kelsey smiled and shook his hand. He introduced Derek by his rank, so she should probably do the same. "2nd Lieutenant Kelsey Vanderhoek."

Derek almost froze at the mention of her rank, thinking it was Clay's new girlfriend. Enlisted dating officer was a no-no, even between services. "Clay, she's a Lieutenant."

Clay and Kelsey both burst out laughing, knowing exactly where Derek's head was at, thinking Kelsey was a new girlfriend. "He went there," Clay told Kelsey.

"I think everyone is going to go there," she commented. She turned to Derek again. "Maybe I should re-introduce myself. Kelsey Vanderhoek, his little sister."

Derek's mouth opened a little and then he just laughed. "Ash Spencer's little girl really went into the Corps as a fuck you to her old man?"

Kelsey just looked at Clay, who shrugged. She sensed she'd be getting a lot of that sentiment from SEALs who worked with her father. "Something like that," she said in response.

"Figured I'd introduce the two of you, because you'll be seeing more of her and I didn't want you getting the wrong idea," Clay told Derek, chuckling. "She'll be living here for awhile anyways."

"I'm going to be living here?" Kelsey questioned.

"Do you want to stay in base housing?" He asked.

"No."

"You're going to MOS school here in Dam Neck and you have a brother who has an off base apartment with a spare room, I think that's a no-brainer, dumbass," he told his sister.

She shrugged and turned to Derek. "Guess I'll be seeing you around."

Derek shook his head. "You two are entertaining. I wasn't sure the military world could handle another Spencer, but I guess I was wrong."

Kelsey winked. "I'll try and not live up to my old man's last name, thank you very much. Thankfully the Corps doesn't discriminate against Spencer's."

"I'll leave you two to eat your dinner," Derek said. "Nice meeting you, Lieutenant."

"Same to you Senior Chief," she said.

Clay nodded as Derek was almost out the door. "She's a little bit on the DL so…"

"Your secret is safe with me," Derek said and closed the door.

Kelsey tore into the bag that Clay brought into the kitchen. "Does everybody in the SEAL community pretty much hate Ash Spencer?"

"Pretty much," Clay answered, grabbing a burger that was in the box.

"Are you sure it's a good idea bringing me down here then?"

Clay shrugged. "They'll get over it. You're gonna do some saber-tooth rattling in your career and it's going to get out that you're his daughter, so we might as well get in front of it now."

Kelsey looked at him as she popped off the cap on a bottle of beer. "Love doing damage control," she said sarcastically.

"Welcome to the world of being Ash Spencer's kid on your way up the ladder, kid."

* * *

Clay and Kelsey were waiting in the locker room for Ray the next morning. She had a light breakfast, he not eating anything except coffee. He wore civilian clothes, she opted for Marine cammie bottoms and her Marine issued combat boots and just a green t-shirt to ruck in. A green t-shirt that was pretty much her standard undershirt, making her in pretty much full uniform. She figured she'd get practice in what she would have to wear at IOC.

Ray came through the door, shaking his head. "You kid, are mindlessly entertaining," he said as a greeting.

Kelsey turned to Clay. "See, I'm entertaining," she smiled. He rolled his eyes. She stood and shook Ray's hand. "Kelsey Vanderhoek."

"Senior Chief Ray Perry. You ready for this morning, Lieutenant?"

Kelsey put up her hand and then turned to Clay. "Tell him what I told you."

"Don't ma'am her."

Ray raised an eyebrow. "You're family, I'm not and she still outranks me. And we are on a Navy base. And she's in uniform."

Kelsey sighed. "This weekend, please don't Lieutenant me or ma'am me. It's Kelsey or if you really want, I will answer to kid."

Ray turned to Clay. "Is she serious?"

Clay stood. "Yeah."

The Senior Chief shrugged. "Alright Kelsey. You ready?"

"Nope. But I'd rather find out today in front of you two than at combat endurance test at IOC on the first day," Kelsey replied.

"Understood," Ray replied. "You sure you want to be in uniform?"

She shrugged. "The boots are broken in and I have to be in full uniform at IOC so might as well be in most of my uniform now."

"Smart," Ray said. He picked up her rucksack. "Did you weight it?"

She nodded. "105."

"I gave her tips on how to pack it properly," Clay said. He had a little more real-life experience on how to pack a ruck properly and how to evenly distribute the weight so that she could last 15 miles with it.

Ray held out his hand. "Watch, compass, any navigation or time telling device that you may have, give it up."

Kelsey just looked at the Senior Chief in disbelief. "You want me to give up my cell phone, my watch and my compass?"

He nodded. "Yep."

She sighed and handed over all electronic devises as well as any navigational devices. "I don't like this."

Ray smiled. "Get used to being uncomfortable."

17 miles later, 105 lbs on her back, Kelsey was somehow keeping up to the two SEALs but she was fading and she was fading fast. She felt like she was dying, she knew her feet were bleeding and holy shit her back hurt. And all she wanted was for this misery to end. The end had to be in sight somewhere. Of course Ray and Clay were still going strong. Her? She just wanted this death to be instantaneous.

Ray put up his fist and both her and Clay stopped. He turned around to face Kelsey, with his face in a huge smile. "Not bad, kid. 17 miles in 3 and a half hours. Not bad for never having done this distance and weight before."

"Can I go puke now?" Kelsey asked.

Clay was already helping her take off her rucksack before she ran to the edge of the road and started puking. He turned to Ray and laughed. "What happened to 15 miles?"

Ray shrugged. "Figured if she can do 17 with us, she'll be able to do 15 with a bunch of Marines, no problem."

Kelsey walked back over and Clay handed her the water bottle from the rucksack. She washed out her mouth and spat and glared at the Senior Chief. "17 miles?!" She exclaimed. "17 fucking miles?"

"Well now you don't have any doubts that you can do a 15 mile ruck. Seriously, good job kid. You managed to keep up with two Tier 1 operators. That is not nothing," Ray pepped her up.

She had her hands on her knees, bent over, shaking her head. "I'm dead."

"You're not dead yet," Clay replied. "Come on, Ray and I will split up some of your weight on the half mile back to base."

"After this, do I want to even know what you guys have planned for the rest of the weekend? I mean, it's not even probably noon on Saturday," Kelsey asked.

Clay shrugged as they put their rucksacks on after dividing some of the weight from Kelsey's and walking back to their starting point. "Lt. Commander Blackburn is planning tomorrow. It has to with land nav and the whole team."

Kelsey looked left to Clay and then right to Ray. "A training exercise with a bunch of Tier 1 operators?"

Ray shrugged if that was no big deal. "You wanna play with the big boys, you gotta train with the big boys."

"Bring it on Senior Chief," she said with a tone to her voice.

"I like the attitude."

* * *

 **AN: Yep, next chapter will be with all of Bravo. I mean, what could possibly go wrong in a simple training exercise?!**


	3. Chapter 3

Kelsey spent the afternoon, after having a much needed shower, having a nap. She had a grueling schedule at TBS and after that ruck; she needed a damn nap. In reality and in war, she wouldn't have that luxury but for now, she was going to take advantage of the mattress in the spare room of her brother's apartment.

She pulled her hair into a messy bun as she opened the door to see Clay playing video games and she just shook her head. Some of her fellow second Lieutenants played video games whenever they could on their downtime and sometimes she would join them, but rarely. She could kick their asses at Mario Kart, which they found unbelievable, until she actually did on multiple occasions but she had no interest in getting better at any other video games.

"What are you playing?" she asked.

Clay shrugged. "Fortnite."

"Original," she said.

He glared at her, turned off the TV and put down the remote. "And what do you guys do on your down time at TBS?"

"Not play Fortnite?" she shot back as she noticed a bunch of unanswered texts from some of her fellow 2nd Lieutenants. Only one of them knew where she was this weekend and it seemed that her being gone was a topic of conversation back at Quantico.

Clay nodded towards her phone. "Your phone was blowing up while you were taking a nap."

"I see that," Kelsey said.

Clay paused for a second. "And Patrick called? I didn't answer it. You should probably tell him."

Kelsey sighed. "You liked him."

"I didn't say that," Clay said.

2nd Lieutenant Patrick Shanahan was one of her platoon buddies that she had dragged out when they went bowling. However, it didn't just end up bowling. About 8 of the group ended up at some raging house party off base that night, one of Patrick's friends, and they all ended up crashing there. Patrick pretty much saw straight through the fact that Clay was not a friend from Arizona State University nor a boyfriend and Kelsey knew she would have to tell him eventually. "The simple fact that you mentioned that he called when I can see his name on my missed calls, says you don't mind him."

"Of all the guys you would date, he wouldn't be the worst," Clay said.

She glared at him. "Can we stop talking about Patrick and I?"

"Kels, don't let a good thing in front of you go. He might just be the only guy who can and is willing to keep up with you," Clay pointed out.

She rolled her eyes at him. "What are we doing tonight," she said, changing the subject.

"Thought we would go to a party."

"Do you actually have friends outside the Navy?" she questioned.

He laughed. "Well, I'm certainly not letting you put your career in jeopardy this early by partying with enlisted sailors, so yes, they are not in the Navy."

"Clay, who's friends are these?" She challenged. "You're a SEAL with the definition of no life outside of your team."

He looked at her; damn she was good at reading in between the lines. "Friends of friends of my ex-girlfriend's."

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. "And is Stella going to be there tonight?"

"No."

"I guess we shall show our faces then," Kelsey replied. This was a bad idea, she knew it. A very bad idea. Although she also knew that this was some sort of fucked up test he had planned because this whole weekend was a test. She was trying to think on what earth a party with a bunch of strangers could be a "test" but she would roll with it for now.

* * *

When they got there, Clay introduced them to the guy hosting the party- Jordan. He had dated one of Stella's friends and somehow him and Clay kept in touch and that's how they knew each other. Kelsey felt a little better about the situation knowing how they met and Stella probably wouldn't be showing her face at the party. She still felt a little weird being around friends of friends of his ex-girlfriend but Clay and Jordan seemed fine with it, so she would have to deal with it too.

Jordan handed her a beer bottle as soon as Clay introduced her. "So not a girlfriend because you're not his type at all and I don't think Clay has any other friends so spill."

Kelsey took the beer bottle and smiled. "You know when he said, let's go to a party, I also asked where these imaginary friends were from."

"He is standing right here," Clay said, as he sipped his beer.

Jordan laughed. "I'll figure it out, who you are Miss Kelsey. In the mean time, my girlfriend Michelle is in the kitchen so if you need a drink, please come find one of us. Apparently I invited a lot of guys so if you're single, hit one of them up."

"She has a boyfriend," Clay responded quickly.

Kelsey almost spat out her beer. "Excuse me? Are you answering for me now?"

Jordan was trying desperately hard not to burst out laughing. "Well, in her defense, I don't see a ring on her finger."

She smiled sweetly and then shot a death glares at her brother. "Thank you. I am very much single so that is very good information."

Around 2 am, she was involved in a heated discussion with Jordan and another guy on the state on college football and the playoff system. Jordan, having gone to Clemson, the other guy having gone to Oklahoma were in favour of keeping it the way it was. She thought it would be better served to open it up to 8 teams. She had been keeping her eye on Clay the whole night because he was talking to a little blonde girl who gave Kelsey the spidey senses. They were getting very close and she had seen him kiss her a couple times. She didn't care about the fact that he was kissing a girl, it was who he was kissing. Call it her gut feeling, but it was telling her to get him out of there and to do it fast and quick.

And he was about to walk out the door with the little blonde girl. "Should I be worried?" She asked Jordan and the other guy.

"Is that your boyfriend?" the other guy asked, looking at Clay.

"No. But she's certainly not coming back to my place," she muttered.

Jordan sighed. "Yeah, you should be worried. She is trouble. Her name is Gracie, I think."

"Either of you run interference on her, I'll get him and get out of here before things go sideways. Jordan, it was great meeting you. I'll be living with Clay for about six months soon so I'm sure I'll see more of you and Michelle."

Jordan gave her a sideways hug. "You and Michelle hit off well so you know where we live. Come over anytime. I'll go run interference."

They both approached Clay and Gracie as they were about to get their shoes on. "We're leaving," Kelsey said, as she got her own flip flops on.

Clay looked at her. "What?"

"Without her," she said, grabbing his arm. She barely looked back as she basically pushed her brother outside the door as Jordan was leading the blonde chick away from the door.

He broke free from her grasp as soon as they were on the lawn. Thankfully Jordan and Michelle's place was within walking distance of their apartment, so they'd walk home. "What the fuck?"

Kelsey stepped back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"Come on Kels!"

"Excuse me! She is absolutely no good and you are not bringing some fucking bimbo home while I'm there. Absolutely not. Forget it. You are better than that."

Clay's mouth dropped open a little. "She's not a fucking bimbo."

"Please. I'm not going to reason with you with you on the merits of why I think what I think, because just call it a woman's intuition, while you're drunk but I will give you a piece of my mind on this. Stop sleeping with everything that walks to get over Stella!" Kelsey was basically screaming at him by this point.

"I'm not," Clay started to say.

"Don't try and defend yourself, Clay. I love you but this has got to stop. I don't know your relationship with Stella, thank God, but I do know this, stop sleeping around. It's not helping. The advice someone told you of "its better to get under someone else to get over someone" is great for a time or two. I actually agree with it, I've done it but you are taking it too far. I know you fucked that chick in Triangle last weekend too."

Clay just rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."

Kelsey wanted to smack him at that point. "That chick in there says otherwise," she yelled at him, not really caring who could hear. He could use some tough love.

He laughed. "You certainly do have a great yelling officer voice," he said as he started walking home.

Kelsey wanted to beat her head into the pavement. But she just stared at him, wondering what in the hell that conversation was about. One thing was for sure- her living with him could not happen soon enough. She would just have to hope that Bravo would be spun up a bunch while she was at IOC for 13 weeks and he wouldn't be sitting at his apartment alone, trying to get over Stella, or at the bar, drinking his sorrows away and picking up any chick that looked cute enough. She knew her brother was better than this "get over Stella" phase he was going through.

* * *

Sonny, Brock, Trent, Blackburn, Ray and Clay all gathered around the main table in their "locker" room. It was early, 8 am, and Clay was feeling the affects of last night. Kelsey, however, woke up with a smile on her face and made them breakfast with the little that was in Clay's house for food. At least he had coffee. He was definitely a little grumpy this morning, feeling just a little hungover. The coffee she made was potent enough to wake him up though.

"Who's the chick sleeping on the couch, with the Diamondbacks hat on her face in the hallway?" Brock asked.

"She looks a lot like the girl from the bar the other night," Sonny remarked.

Mandy, Jason and Davis came through the door a second later. "Who's the girl in the hallway with the Diamondbacks hat on?" Jason asked as he joined the group.

Ray and Clay were trying really hard not to laugh, mainly at Sonny's comment but they refrained from commenting.

Blackburn took control of the meeting. "The reason we are all here this morning is we are going on a little training exercise."

"With Mandy?" Trent asked.

Mandy shrugged. "I just follow orders. But why not?"

"And the reason that the girl looks like the girl from the bar, Sonny, is that is the girl from the bar," Ray said.

Jason held up his hand. "What girl from the bar?"

Brock explained. "Some girl came into the bar on Friday night and Sonny made some comment about how hot she was, however, she went straight up to Clay and they definitely know each other but Clay didn't introduce us."

"Leaving Sonny with a wild imagination on who this mystery girl is," Trent also supplied. "But apparently Ray knows."

Blackburn cleared his throat. "Do you want to know who this mystery girl is?"

Sonny, Trent and Brock all answered yes simultaneously. Jason just eyed his commanding officer, very confused. Davis and Mandy were trying hard not to laugh as Blackburn had filled them in earlier on what was happening. Ray had a neutral expression on and Clay was studying each of their faces.

Blackburn got out his folder and put Kelsey's OCS commissioning picture on the table. "Meet 2nd Lieutenant Kelsey Vanderhoek. Aka the girl from the bar."

Sonny looked at Trent and then Brock. "Okay, I didn't see that coming."

Jason held up his hand. "What are we missing?"

Blackburn looked around the room and then tried to keep a straight face as he said these next few words. "She's Ash Spencer's daughter."

There was silence as everybody processed those words and then Sonny laughed. "You're fucking with us, right?"

"Clay?" Blackburn said, turning the room to him.

Clay scratched his cheek. "She's my half sister. Ash dropped the bombshell on me about a month ago."

Jason ran his hand down his face and sighed. "She's a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps!?"

"She's doing TBS at Quantico right now, graduates in three weeks," Blackburn informed everyone.

Brock turned to Clay. "So that's where you were last weekend. I was a little confused when you blew me off because you said you were going to Quantico."

Clay nodded. "Went up there last weekend to meet her and this weekend she came down here."

Jason shook his head. "Alright, I'm going to need time to process that there is another Spencer running around. But why are we really here? Does this have something to do with her?"

Blackburn nodded. "Her superiors at TBS want her to do the Infantry Officer Course."

Again, silence. "What's her MOS?" Trent asked.

"0204," Clay answered. "Intelligence. She doesn't have to go, but they want her to go."

Sonny scratched his beard. "I've heard that's a hard course, even for men."

"Which is why, we are getting her prepared," Blackburn said. "She has a brother who is a Tier 1 operator, I think we should use these resources to help her. I don't care what your views are personally about women in combat, I've decided that we are going to help her. Is that understood?"

"Kelsey, Clay and I went on a 17 mile ruck yesterday, she had 105 lbs on and she completed it and had never done a ruck that long or with that weight on and with just the training at TBS she has been doing," Ray said.

Davis was impressed. "Damn."

"We're going to do a little training exercise with land nav and trying not to get dead," Blackburn explained. He turned to Cerebus, who was laying by Brock's feet. "Go wake her up."

Kelsey came into the room, with the Arizona Diamondbacks hat on backwards, and the dog coming in after her. "You sent a dog to come in and wake me up?" She then turned to Sonny. "Told you I'd see you boys around."

Jason just rubbed his face. "Definitely a Spencer."

Clay didn't even bother to tell his little sister to zip it, which would be a waste of his breath. Instead he did introductions. He finished with Kelsey. "And this is my little sister, Kelsey. She has a little bit of a mouth to her but she'll make one hella an officer. Oh and Sonny, I shouldn't have to tell you this, but she's off limits."

Sonny tried hard not to laugh. "No shit, there, buddy. No shit." Not only was that hot girl off limits due to rank; she was also Clay's little sister. He definitely pegged her wrong on Friday night. Kelsey was the definition of jailbait.

"Today's training exercise. Kelsey, here, has to use some land nav skills to find a spot that Davis has hidden in the woods for her. She has three hours to find it. Mandy and I will be with her, evaluating her. However, we are not going to help her unless she hits the three hours. Davis will be putting paintballs at the site that Kelsey has to find. After that, it's full on war."

"Paintball war?" Ray asked.

Mandy nodded. "Bravo against us three. You have to kill us three before we reach the target point home. Even if one of us three makes it back to the target point home, we win. Davis will be the referee."

Jason looked all around the room. "Bravo against the Officers? Okay. We'll take that challenge. You know this is 6 on 3, right?"

Blackburn nodded and pointed to Kelsey. "This is about her finding a way for us three to not get hit while under extreme pressure. She's leading this."

"And no head shots," Mandy said. "We aren't wearing helmets so let's keep them at chest level."

Sonny clapped his hands. "Let's do this. I love kicking some Officer's asses."

* * *

While Kelsey, Blackburn and Mandy set off to find the hidden paintballs deep in the woods that Davis hid, the boys met up at the target location to try and come up with a plan of attack.

"I think we split up into teams of three," Jason said.

"I agree," Ray replied. "But I really don't think we should under-estimate them."

Sonny laughed. "She's an inexperienced Lieutenant, Blackburn hasn't done ops in forever and when has Mandy been in the field?"

Clay shook his head. "I agree with Ray. They are smart. They'll find a way when we are least expecting it."

Jason also shook his head. "I dunno. It's six against three. We have this."

"Except if one of them gets back here, they win," Trent replied.

"Has anyone actually seen Mandy shoot?" Brock asked.

All of them shook their heads. "For all we know, she could be a sharp shooter," Ray pointed out. "All I'm saying guys, is don't get caught with your pants down being too cocky."

Jason turned to Clay. "What was up with that little comment towards her and her mouth and being a good officer?"

Clay shrugged. "Oh nothing."

Ray started laughing, having met Kelsey. "She dressed you down last night, didn't she?"

"And then some."

"What was the yelling about?" Jason asked.

Clay shrugged. "A girl."

Sonny's eyebrows rose, putting two and two together. "Your sister cockblocked you?!"

"When you put it like that, I guess she did," Clay replied.

Jason and Ray just looked at each other, showing a knowing glance. They had heard through the grapevine of the sleeping around that Clay was doing, trying to get over Stella and they did not condone it however they didn't want to say anything right now. And if his sister was going to do the talking, they'd let her. "Your sister has balls," was all Jason said.

* * *

Kelsey, without the help of Blackburn and Mandy, found the target in an hour and a half, way under her three hour deadline. She turned to the Lt. Commander and the CIA Officer once she found what Davis had hidden. "Looks like we are in business."

"Not bad, not bad at all," Mandy said as Blackburn began handing both of them paintballs. They had carried their paintball guns in with them.

Blackburn got all of them that Davis had hidden and passed them to Kelsey and Mandy. "How do you want to play this Kelsey?"

"Are we allowed to use Davis?"

Blackburn shrugged. "We didn't say in the rules that we couldn't. Do you have something specific in mind?"

She also shrugged. "Not right now," she said as she moved her Kevlar vest around. Before they all left, all 9 players were in agreement of no headshots, but everyone would wear Kevlar vests. She wasn't in uniform today, instead opting for jeans and hoodie, but wearing her Marine issued combat boots.

Mandy filled her paintball gun up and looked at the Lieutenant for orders. "These guys are going to be hard to play against. You up for this?"

"They are going to underestimate us and I think we should play right into that hand," Kelsey said. "Notice that ravine on the left side of the valley?"

Blackburn turned to look at it. "Yeah."

"I say we go low, and use that for cover."

Mandy looked at Blackburn and then back at Kelsey. "That's bad tactical skills. Everyone knows you go high for better advantage."

"Exactly. That's precisely why we go low," Kelsey said.

Blackburn nodded. "Kid is right. They aren't going to look down the ravine."

Mandy nodded. "Okay, you made a compelling argument. I also think they are going to underestimate us."

"The plan is to get as many of them as we can while we are in the ravine. I think they'll split up into teams of three. Once we are out of the ravine, we all split up. Mandy, you take the left. Blackburn, you take the right and I'll go center. The object is that only one of us has to get to the truck and we win."

"I like that plan," Blackburn said.

Mandy nodded. "Solid plan."

Kelsey took the walkie-talkie and radioed to Davis. "Tell the boys its game on."

* * *

 **AN: So... who wins this? Bravo or the Officers?**


	4. Chapter 4

Blackburn, Mandy and Kelsey made their way down the ravine pretty far before they heard voices. She quickly signalled to get on their stomachs before they could be seen. They had gotten down low enough that she knew that hadn't been spotted But they could see Sonny and Trent. They must have split into groups of two. That would make it a little harder.

Kelsey motioned with her fingers that Blackburn and Mandy would take out Sonny, she would hit Trent with paint. She then counted down three, two, one and they took their shots.

"What the fuck!" Sonny exclaimed as he had paint running down the front of his vest.

Trent was looking all around but couldn't see anything. "Where the fuck did that shot come from?"

Davis had given everyone radios and got on the walkie-talkie. "Sonny and Trent are out."

The three of them carried down the ravine a little ways before Kelsey motioned them to stop. She switched to a different frequency, one that she knew the boys weren't on but that Davis was. That was thanks to Mandy's knowledge. They never laid out the ground rules that said that they couldn't use Davis to their advantage in the pow-wow this morning and Kelsey was going to take full use of that. And Mandy's skills as well.

"Davis, how far does this ravine run?" Kelsey asked.

"Pretty much down the whole side of the valley."

She took out her map, where the target location was and drew her finger along the ravine and then to the target location. "New plan. Mandy, you go down this ravine the whole way. And then cross over here. You might have to bushwhack it a little on getting out of the ravine and back to the road, though. Blackburn and I are going to draw their fire and hope to God we last awhile."

Mandy looked at her skeptically. "It would be 4 against 2, taking me out of the equation."

"Oh I know. We will get hit, but hopefully it will keep them distracted long enough for you to get back to the truck. Only one of us has to get back."

Blackburn nodded. "I know them. They aren't thinking about a runner, much less Mandy doing the running."

Kelsey handed her the map and the compass. She hoped Mandy knew how to do navigation the old school way. Otherwise, she'd have to wing it.

Mandy shrugged. "I like being the underdog once in awhile," she replied as she took off at a jog down the ravine.

"Let's go draw some fire," Blackburn said.

"You go center, I'll go right," Kelsey nodded towards him.

He nodded that he understood but said one thing in response. "If you have a chance, go up a tree."

Ray and Brock had taken the center, after they told Sonny and Trent to take the left. Jason and Clay would take the right. They thought it was a fool proof plan. Three teams to take out three targets. How hard could it be? They were a group of Tier 1 operators, who specialized in high target missions. They realized they had under-estimated the Officers 15 minutes into the game when Davis came on the walkie-talkies and said Sonny and Trent were out. They definitely vastly miscalculated what the officers were capable of planning in a short amount of time. A butter-bar was out-maneuvering them on their own playing field. Embarrassing.

"Who sniped them is my question?" Ray asked.

"Would have loved for it to have been Kelsey," Brock replied. "With Sonny seeing her face as she hit him."

Ray rolled his eyes. "Would have been a good taste for his own medicine."

"Still is, being taken out this early by a bunch of cake eaters," Brock said. "Is that what he calls officers?"

"I think so."

Brock sighed. "What the hell does she have up her sleeve though? What does she have that we don't have?"

Ray tried to think. "Well she hiked in here before we did, so she would have been thinking about it along the way. Although we've played in here before, so technically we should have the upper hand on this."

"I know. She has the actual maps."

Ray looked at Brock. "Damn it, you're right."

Just then a paintball whizzed by them and hit the tree, right beside Ray. He looked to see who the player was and could barely make out that it was Blackburn. Ray was really confused because Blackburn would never miss that type of open shot normally. So what had gotten his angle and shot off?

Ray and Brock didn't have time to think because Blackburn was running in the opposite direction. Brock took a shot at him and was about to take another but Ray shook his head and called him off. Better to save ammo. Blackburn was running fast, faster than Ray and Brock expected him to. They kept up to him for awhile, waiting for him to tire and turn around and shoot.

Except Ray knew something wasn't right. After about five minutes of chasing Blackburn farther into the woods, Ray put up his hand for him and Brock to stop. He caught his breath for a minute before speaking. "He's leading us on a wild goose chase, on purpose."

Brock raised his eyebrows. "He's purposely making us run around in circles."

"I don't know about that, but he's leading us farther into the woods. He's not dumb, he's doing this for a reason. I just don't know what that reason is."

"Blackburn just doesn't miss a shot," Brock replied.

"Exactly," Ray said. "Which is why we aren't going to keep running. We circle back and wait for him. We do not play into their hand."

15 minutes later, they were patrolling the right side, just waiting for Kelsey, Blackburn or Mandy. They hadn't seen anything or heard anything since chasing Blackburn farther into the woods and then deciding to stop the chase and double back into the middle of the woods. Suddenly a noise caught their attention.

Brock had his paintball gun pointed at the noise and Ray nodded to take the shot. When he saw it was Blackburn he looked at Ray for affirmation on whether to take the shot or not. Ray hesitated as Blackburn was standing right in the open and boy Ray was confused. Blackburn had to have known somebody was about to snipe him. Finally Ray gave a quick nod to Brock, who had the better angle on Blackburn. One shot, mid torso, Blackburn was out of the game.

But as Ray and Brock were distracted with Blackburn, Kelsey was waiting in the tree, right above them. Blackburn was sacrificing himself so she could get two shots off. He had signaled for her to go up while he distracted them and with how agile she was, she did exactly that, with very little noise. The second Ray nodded to Brock, she shot Ray in the back. Two seconds later, she also shot Brock in the back.

Ray turned around to see her in the tree, waving down at him. "Mother fucker."

She began to slowly climb down. "Hi boys," was all she said as she climbed down and took off in the opposite direction.

Brock got on the radio to up date everyone. Lisa would find them and make sure the hits were good. "Blackburn, Ray and myself are out."

Meanwhile, Jason and Clay were on the right hand side of the playing field as they heard Brock's voice come over the radio.

"Kelsey sniped both Ray and Brock?" Clay asked.

Jason shrugged as he thought he heard a noise and swung his rifle to face it. It was a squirrel. They both sighed. "Before or after they got Blackburn, is the question?"

"Well, it's only 2 on 2. We just gotta find Mandy and Kels."

Jason sighed. "My spidey senses are telling me that it's not going to be so easy to find Mandy."

"We're going by your spidey senses now?" Clay asked.

"We're down to 2 on 2 in a gimme game that we should have won in the first fifteen minutes, so yes, I am going off my spidey senses. You know your sister best, what does she think like?"

Clay shrugged. "Haven't been around her enough but I know she likes to think outside the box."

"Start thinking outside the box, Spencer. You have another Spencer that is about to kick your ass."

Clay groaned. "Don't I know it."

The team leader looked at Clay. "Old man has to have some opinions about her doing so well."

"If he does, he hasn't shared them with me."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Ash doesn't know about her and IOC?"

"Nope and we intend on keeping it that way."

"Huh."

Clay turned to Jason. "You've gotta have some feelings about a female in combat. Surprised you haven't said them already."

Jason sighed. "I think you made the right call asking Ray to help you."

Clay was a little surprised at the Master Chief's response. "Are you saying that you don't agree with women in combat?"

"All I'm saying is, I haven't made up my mind. Let's go find Mandy and Kelsey before I really have to make an opinion on that subject."

After about another ten minutes of them basically walking in wide circles, not far from where the location was to get to the truck to the win the game, Jason stopped and rubbed his face. "This is all wrong. All wrong."

"What are you thinking?"

"Mandy's the real player we have to watch out for," Jason said. "Your sister is fucking smart, and knew we would grossly under-estimate Mandy's abilities and skills and not even think about her."

"But what is Mandy exactly up to? What did Kelsey tell her to do?"

Kelsey was, however, waiting for them. Behind some old brushes, and they hadn't even seen her quietly come up from behind them. "I heard that you think I'm fucking smart."

She stood up and Clay and her fired their weapons at the exact same time. Splat. Paint was both running down their chests. Exactly like how she had planned it. All down to a T. They both fell right into her trap and man, did that ever feel good to know that she had just out-smarted two Tier 1 operators. However, she wasn't dumb and she knew this would be her one and only chance at gloating to them and her one shot at besting them on their own turf. She was going to take the ball and run with it.

Jason rubbed his face as Kelsey came closer, with a big smile on her face. "I think we can call that a draw."

Clay just shook his head. "How?"

She shrugged. "You were distracted," she said. She picked up the radio and spoke into it. "Clay and I are out."

Jason took off in the other direction to look for Mandy, leaving brother and sister staring at each other, daring the other one to speak first. Clay had taken her out of the game but he didn't feel great about it, knowing that it probably played exactly into her hand. And that really pissed him off. It wasn't that it was a girl who was beating him, it was the fact that it was his little sister was kicking his ass at his own game.

Finally he spoke first. "How'd you get so good at this?"

She shrugged and spoke nonchalantly. "Something they probably said the same thing about you. Natural born talent."

"I guess we have one thing to thank Ash Spencer for," Clay muttered. He did see a lot of himself in his little sister and he knew his teammates did as well and that scared him a little. She was cocky, loud mouthed and had an opinion but she had the results to back up the brashness. Something he was like when he first joined Bravo. It rubbed people the wrong way and he knew Kelsey would inevitably piss a few people off along the way, just as he did. She would find her place as well and tone down the cockiness but he wouldn't get in her way of finding her position.

Sonny came on the radio, and his voice held disbelief. "Awe, son of a bitch. They just won the game."

Jason's voice was on there two seconds later. "What?"

Trent's voice carried over right after. "Mandy just showed up at the truck. She's a little wet, looks like she crossed a creek or two, but she's here."

"Fuck!" Jason exclaimed.

Clay turned to his sister as they walked back to the meeting point, where Mandy had won the game. They weren't far, according to Clay's Garmin. Kelsey, gave up her navigational devises to Mandy to get back so she really had no clue where they were. "You and Blackburn were the sacrificial lambs while you sent Mandy somewhere else, to get us off her trail."

"It worked, didn't it?" Kelsey asked.

"How did you think of it?" Clay really wanted to know that question and she knew she wouldn't spill her answer in front of everyone else.

She shrugged. "All of you men, save for you and maybe Ray, are so misogynistic against women that you can't see in front of your very own eyes that Mandy and I were more than capable of playing this game with you bastards. I knew the guys viewed me as more of an equal than Mandy and I knew they threw Mandy straight out of the equation from the minute Davis said game on. Of course I am going to use her as the biggest piece on the chess board with that kind of fucking attitude they had towards her."

Clay just stared at her. "You're fucking serious, with those words?"

"Oh I have a lot more of them for you. And the whole goddamn American military but I won't get into them now. I'll save the monologue because you and Ray actually view women in combat as an okay thing but for the rest of ya'll, well maybe it's about damn time you got your asses kicked by officers and women. I'm not going to begin to get into your guys' head's, and why Sonny thinks it's okay to objectify women the way he does, especially when he says, and I'm paraphrasing here, what a hot piece of ass I am, without realizing who I am. And I am not exactly sure what it is with some of you and not seeing women as equals in these types of environments. I'd really like to know. This wasn't a game of physical strength, this was all tactical skills and using the brain."

He just kept walking, thinking about his sister's comments. She definitely had some harsh words to say. He was going to have to ponder them for a little while, even though in the heat of the moment, he had to admit she had a point. And she was right on most of what she had to say. "So why go into the MOS you are going into if you know that is how you are going to get treated? You know it's going to be a bunch of misogynistic men who don't think women belong there, especially the old boys club."

She shrugged as she saw the truck come partially into the view with everyone at it, except them two. She stopped so Clay could hear her fully. "To change the world? To prove Ash Spencer wrong? I don't know. Honestly, Clay, I think it's so other women who come after me and the little girls who might look up to me for passing IOC don't have to go through the same shit I'm about to go through. Somebody has to be the trailblazer."

"So you're just going to be the hero in this story?"

"Don't be putting words into my mouth," she shot back. "I definitely don't see myself as that. If I pass IOC, it's because I damn well deserve it and I've worked hard and pushed my body to the extreme to get even to this point."

Clay nodded. "Just making sure you're head isn't getting too big."

"I think they'll take care of that at IOC if it does become an issue," she said, smiling. "Let's go have some beer."

Blackburn, Davis, Trent, Brock, Sonny, Ray and a very wet Mandy were waiting at the truck when Clay and Kelsey appeared from the bushes. They assumed Jason was probably not far from behind.

Mandy held out her fist and Kelsey returned the fist bump. "I guess when I told you to bush whack it, you took that literally."

Mandy shrugged as she sipped her beer. Brock passed Kelsey an open one and she nodded her thanks. "Well, there was a better route that I could have taken to avoid the water but I knew after you and Clay were out that Jason was probably onto me and I should probably get my ass in gear. I spotted the creek as short cut. Looks like I was right."

Jason came up behind them, hearing that conversation. "You crossed a creek to avoid getting spotted?"

"It worked, didn't it?" Mandy fired back.

The team leader shook his head as he accepted a beer from Davis. "I definitely didn't see that move coming, at all."

"None of us did," Trent said, sagely.

"So, who's idea was it?" Brock asked.

Blackburn pointed towards Kelsey. "Her idea to go low and snipe Sonny and Trent right away, as well."

"Why did you go low anyways?" Jason asked. "Bad tactical skills."

Kelsey nodded. "I know. But I also knew that you guys wouldn't think two steps ahead in the fact that I know that but would use that to my advantage. That ravine ran the whole side of the valley and it was deep. No way you guys would be looking in there that hard, especially not that early in the game."

"As long as you know to always go high," Ray said. "But good work, staying two steps ahead."

Kelsey laughed. "I think the best one was me going up the tree and sniping both you and Brock while Blackburn gave himself up."

Sonny, Trent, Jason and Clay all turned towards Brock and Ray. "She sniped you from a tree?"

She shrugged. "That wonderful piece of advice came from your Lieutenant Commander."

"Well I'll be damned," Ray said.

"So what did we all learn from this today?" Blackburn looked at Bravo, pointedly.

Ray took one for the team and answered. "Not to underestimate green Lieutenants and CIA Officers. And having another Spencer in the military, albeit the Marines, is going to make everyone's lives a lot more interesting,"

Clay and Kelsey smiled. "I think I can drink to that," Clay answered.

* * *

Clay watched as Kelsey loaded her ruck into the backseat of her F-150 that afternoon. She had a three hour drive back to Quantico and he wanted her to get a good night sleep before another brutal week at TBS so he told her to get lost in the afternoon. She was pretty exhausted though so he supplied her with a couple energy drinks from his fridge, about the only thing left in there. He made it abundantly clear to her that if she wanted food the next time she came down next time, she would probably have to stop in at the grocery store on her way to his place. She didn't mind doing that; it just made her worry about what he was eating when she wasn't there.

"You going to give them your answer on IOC tonight?"

She nodded. "I have three lovely hours in a truck to myself to think on it."

"And what's it going to be?"

Kelsey sighed. "I'm leaning towards yes."

"I'm proud of you, whatever decision you choose."

She smiled. "Thanks."

He engulfed her in a hug after she closed the back door. "Drive safe, don't do anything stupid in the next week, and text me lots when you're not in the field so I know you're at least alive."

She let her head stay on his chest for a minute and then pulled back. "Thank you for this weekend."

"Anytime baby girl, anytime. Maybe loop Patrick in on your decision process as well."

"You're an ass," she said, mainly about the dig he got in about her love life, as she got in her truck and closed the driver door but rolled down the window. "But go get some groceries!"

* * *

 **AN: I know ya'll love some Clay whump so I promise that will be coming next chapter... Kelsey ain't going to be so happy being kept in the dark about his injuries.**


	5. Chapter 5

Clay hated working in the Middle East sometimes. It was hot, dry, dusty and dirty. And that was why there was a collective groan from Bravo when they were being told they were being told they were being spun up to Yemen. Clay had only been to Yemen once, and he didn't have a pleasant experience then. Something told me he wasn't going to have a pleasant experience now.

Abin Atwal was a known Taliban financier. And a bomb maker. Why he was hiding out in Yemen was anyone's guess. But Mandy and her CIA cohorts had managed to track the terrorist to Yemen. And they were there to track the son of a bitch down. Clay somewhat wondered about the orders and why a Taliban financier/bomb maker was hiding out in Yemen, but as Blackburn reminded them, they just followed the orders- they didn't question the intelligence.

He knew he should have trusted his gut to speak up that something wasn't right with what was going on the minute they got pinned down. The intelligence wasn't wrong- Abin Atwal was definitely in Yemen. And so were a lot of his men. And guns started going blazing and Clay knew they were fucked. They were in a god forsaken country, under siege and nothing but desert surrounding them. All they had was a rickety old shack of a house to protect them.

"This is bad," he muttered to Jason.

Jason shook his head. "Just keep shooting, kid. You don't need to tell me twice."

"Any word on exfil?" Ray asked Davis.

She came over their radios. "Still too hot to land."

Damn it, these guys were good. These guys were good because they just landed three bullet holes in Clay's left side. One in his shoulder and two right below where his vest would end. He dropped to the ground fast and the pain was searing as he hit the desert floor. He was unconscious as soon as he hit the ground.

Jason immediately grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him to safety before Atwal's guys could pummel more bullets into him. "Bravo Six is down."

Blackburn swore on the radio. "Fuck. How bad?"

"It's bad. Any chance at a MEDEVAC?"

Davis swallowed. "No. The closest MEDEVAC I can get is out of Camp Lemmonier, which is where the exfil helo's are coming from anyways, but there is a sandstorm right now over Djibouti and about to be one over you guys as well."

Sonny came over and assessed the situation and spoke to Davis. "So, what you're saying is that Clay is down and we're fucked?"

"Unless that exfil helo can land in the next two minutes before it runs out of fuel and has to go back to Camp Lemmonier or find somewhere else to land, pretty much," Davis passed on the bad news. "I'll keep trying Camp Lemmonier."

Trent was already taking off Clay's kit and applying bandages upon bandages to Clay so he didn't bleed out, but it wasn't looking good. "This isn't good guys."

Ray rubbed his eye as he pressed the bandage on Clay's shoulder, the bullet hole that wasn't bleeding the most. "We gotta get him out of here before that sandstorm comes in here."

"How?" Jason asked. "We helo'd in. We have no vehicle and the bad guys seem to have a limitless supply of ammo."

Sonny looked out the window. "They seem to know the sandstorm is coming."

"And they got the fuck out of Dodge in a hurry," Brock said. "Leaving us."

Davis came on the radio. "I have a MEDEVAC fueled and waiting at Camp Lemmonier with pilots standing by. As soon as air traffic gives them the go ahead, they will take off."

"How long will that be?" Jason asked.

"That's anybody's guess."

Blackburn came on the radio. "The other alternative is to see if someone is brave, cocky and stupid enough from the Carrier Strike Group off the Stennis to fly into a sandstorm to make a MEDEVAC. The Stennis isn't far of the coast of Yemen."

The rest of Bravo all looked at each other, knowing that might be their only way to get Clay out. That was extremely risky, putting a pilot's life in danger to get someone else out. They were asking someone else to put their life on the line. It was a huge ask and Blackburn knew that. That and who knew if any of the higher ups would authorize such a risky "search and rescue" mission for a plane or helo taking off from a carrier. "Make the call," Jason said.

Trent shook his head. "Even if someone is stupid enough to fly into a sandstorm to rescue us from it, I don't know about him. I'm worried about septic shock and sand getting in here and infected."

Ray closed his eyes. Oh this was bad. Not only did they have a man down, they also had a man down in a very hostile, unforgiving country with mother nature absolutely not cooperating with them. They also did not have any rescue bird in the air at the time and Clay was losing blood fast. "We gotta get him out."

"I also have to point out the not so obvious, we are in the worst place for a lack of hospitals," Brock said.

Jason rubbed his face. "Good point."

"Camp Lemmonier might have a doctor so we can stabilize him. With blood," Trent said.

"What about Bahrain? Fifth fleet is there," Sonny said.

Ray shook his head. "No hospital. Just a clinic."

Mandy came on the radio, obviously hearing their conversation. "The lack of hospitals in the area is a concern of ours as well. We have two options. We fly him back to the Stennis and get him stabilized there. It's not great, but it's our best option. Or we fly him to Israel."

"Israel?' Jason asked.

"They are our closest ally in the area," Mandy replied. "I have a friend who is a high ranking Mossad Officer who has some friends in the Israeli government. I reached out to them to see if they had any assets in Yemen who could help. They do have a Mossad Officer in the area but I don't think he's of any help. However, they know the challenge of getting Clay stabilized before we can fly him to Germany. They will allow a US Navy or Army helo to land and they will stabilize him, as an Israeli hospital is the closest Western, shall I say, hospital to Yemen, besides Cairo."

"Israel is willing to do this?" Jason repeated.

"Yes."

"We will consider the offer," Trent said. "The Stennis is the best option. Either way, whoever gets us out of here, is going to have to refuel at Camp Lemmonier. Tell them they need to be standing by."

"Done," Davis said.

Jason sighed. "How do we keep him alive until we get a bird here?"

Trent shrugged. "I don't know, boss. I don't know how much longer he has left. Even if we give him some blood, I honestly don't know if that will help."

Davis came on the radio. "Good news, boys. We got someone to take off from the Stennis. He'll be here within an hour. It's not a full MEDEVAC but it will get Clay out of there and back to Camp Lemmonier."

They all let out of a huge collective sigh of relief once they heard that. That was their first major hurdle, was just getting a bird in the air. They could feel the sand starting to beat down on them and there wasn't much they could do to escape it. Trent was just trying to keep Clay's wounds from bleeding too much but covered from the sand that was descending upon them.

"If that cocky sucker manages to get us out, we gotta put him up for a Distinguished Flying Cross," Brock said. "Whoever he is. This is nuts."

"Agreed," Sonny said.

An hour later, Navy Lieutenant Levi Hale managed to land the helicopter in the sandstorm. It was a small heli, only big enough for Trent, Clay and Ray to get the hell out of there but the boys would take it. Jason, Brock and Sonny would stay behind and way for the sandstorm to below over and catch their actual exfil ride out to Camp Lemmonier and then go onto wherever they decided to take Clay.

"Where to?" Lieutenant Hale asked.

Trent slipped the headset on. "Camp Lemmonier. We still aren't sure on whether the Stennis is the quickest or getting him to an actual hospital in Jerusalem is the best."

Captain Hale nodded. "Yeah. Stennis is probably your best bet in this guys' case," Hale said. "Or fixed wing in an actual MEDEVAC plane from Lemmonier to wherever."

"Let's see how bad he is at Lemmonier," Ray replied.

Clay woke briefly as they touched down in Djibouti. He groaned as he opened his eyes. "Where am I?"

"Now? We're just about to land at Camp Lemmonier. We are going to get you fixed up," Trent replied.

"We gotta nominate some pilot for a DFC for getting you out of a sandstorm," Ray replied. "Doc is going to give you a transfusion here and then we are going to probably fly you to the Stennis."

Clay groaned again. "Don't tell Kels."

Ray looked at Trent. "She's your sister and your only family. She deserves to know, Clay."

He shook his head as he was close to fading out of consciousness. "She's finishing up PALMFEX in Twenty-Nine Palms."

"I'm telling Kelsey. She needs to know that you are close to dying Clay," Ray said, forcefully. "You have three bullet holes in you and you are bleeding out. This is not the time to be fucking around with your sister."

"Tell Patrick Shanahan. He can use his," Clay was slurring his words. "Judgement on whether to tell her before grad."

Ray was about to tell him he was insane but the doc and a couple corpsman were at the helicopter, waiting for Clay, and grabbed him and wheeled him a way as fast as they could. They would get him stabilized and the doc would make their decision whether to send him to an aircraft carrier or send him to a foreign country for medical attention. Either way, Clay needed it fast.

Ray stepped outside of the helicopter with Trent and clicked on his radio. "Hey Davis. Get me everything you can get on a Lieutenant Patrick Shanahan. He'll be doing IOC with Kels."

"Is this going to get me in trouble?" Davis asked.

"Probably not," Ray replied. "Just don't get caught."

* * *

Later than night, Jason and Ray were in a small room off the John C Stennis, in a video conference call. They had just finished up with Major Bridgewell, who was not too happy to be hearing from some Navy guys, just as they were wrapping up 20 days in the field at 29 Palms in California. However, Jason and Ray had laid it out very clearly to the Major- either he could have a casualty assistance officer looking for Kelsey at 29 Palms, and they'd give him the location, and dealing with the fallout of her finding out about Clay or the Major could let them talk to Lieutenant Patrick Shanahan. The Major had smartly chosen option two and had gone to track down Patrick for the video call.

Davis had given them the rundown on the Lieutenant before they talked to him- son of Louisiana Senator Dan Shanahan, who happened to be former US Army Colonel Dan Shanahan, who served with the Delta Force at one point. Patrick had graduated from the Naval Academy and his MOS was Recon and nothing in Kelsey or Patrick's social media gave a relationship away between the two. However, Ray remembered having Kelsey's phone a couple months ago and seeing texts from the Lieutenant in question.

"Master Chief, Senior Chief," the tired Lieutenant said as he came into the room, still with a helmet on and his full kit on. He stared at the two men on the screen in front of him. "What can I do for you two?"

"Your judgement," Jason said. "And your relationship with your fellow Lieutenant."

Patrick laughed. "Who are you guys?"

Ray looked at Jason and then back at Jason. "What is going on between you and Lieutenant Vanderhoek?"

"Nothing."

"Let's try this again, Lieutenant," Jason said. "What is your relationship with Kelsey? We don't care about fraternization rules but we do need to know."

"Officially, none."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Spoken like the son of a politician. And unofficially?"

"Four days, eighteen hours and ten minutes until graduation," Patrick said, looking at his watch. "Does that give you your answer? Now what the fuck is going on?"

Ray smiled. "We're about to give you your first major relationship hurdle. If you're as close to Kelsey as I think you are, then you know she has an older brother."

"Clay Spencer, US Navy SEAL" Patrick said. "And I'm guessing by the attitude, you guys are on his team?" He said, putting his hands on his hips.

Ray and Jason were trying to figure out how much to tell Patrick without telling him what really happened. "Clay was badly injured in an op in Yemen today."

"The fact that you just over-ruled my commanding officer to talk to me says its not just a mild injury. Why talk to me? The person you need to be telling is his sister, letting her know that her brother is on death's door," Patrick observed. "And if two SEALs are making this call personally, then it's really not good, so you really need to be talking to Kelsey and not me."

Jason nodded. "Well, yes. Except in a brief moment of consciousness, he asked us explicitly not to tell Kelsey and to tell you."

"Because he wants you to use your judgement on whether you should tell Kels now or after graduation."

Patrick was silent for a minute when he realized the request. "So, I'm the bad guy?"

"How is she doing?" Jason asked, completely sincerely.

"She's going to pass," Patrick said, reluctantly. "But she's had a hard time with it mentally. Same with us all. And she's hiding stress fractures and really needs to go into a walking boot. Immediately but she won't go to medical right now. So I share Clay's reasoning's on not telling her."

Ray sighed. "Do you think she would lose it all emotionally if she found out?"

Patrick shrugged. "Hard to tell with her. She would keep it together, for sure, but I think she'd be trying to get on the next plane to wherever he is. And I'm assuming that is Germany?"

"We're on the Stennis for now, getting him stabilized, but they are worried about septic shock so the quicker we can get him to Germany the better," Jason said. "And the faster to Walter Reed."

Patrick pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew what septic shock meant. Septic shock was not a good thing. It was a very, very, very bad thing. "I don't know guys. I really don't. Part of me thinks I should tell her the minute she is back in Virginia and we just have out-processing to do but she is going to realize something is up when he isn't at her graduation."

Ray didn't think about that. "I don't envy you right now."

"Can you guys make one call for me though? Gonna help both of us out big time," Patrick said.

"Name it," Ray replied.

Patrick sighed. "Her step-dad. He's a Master Chief out at Camp Pendleton. He will do everything in his power to be at that graduation if Clay isn't there, that is a promise. And I'm going to need him to back me up if I don't tell her until then, to stop her from getting on a plane and beating you to hell."

"She's not going to be so happy with us," Jason said. "Consider it done. We will call you or the Major if anything else changes and she needs to know now. Just try and keep her stateside."

Patrick rolled his eyes. "Easier said than done. Have a good night gentlemen."

Ray nodded. "Stay safe," he said and ended the video call.

Patrick stayed in the room for a minute and thought about his feelings. He had no idea why Clay asked him to do this. He had met Kelsey's brother twice- once when Clay had come up to Quantico and then the next time at Kelsey's TBS graduation. He got along great with her older brother but he never expected Clay to put him in this sort of position. And he hated it. He flashed back to the day that Kelsey had told him about Clay and IOC and how they ended up in this exact moment:

 _He was tired, on his way back to his room and was looking forward to an early night sleep but he doubted that he would get to sleep early. While getting chow with Kelsey, Victoria and one of the Warrant Officers, the Colonel and a NCIS Agent approached the table. Kelsey had seemed to know exactly what was going on and immediately just shoved her tray of food at Victoria and mouthed, "I'll tell you later." She had gotten up from the table, without a word. Patrick had absolutely no idea what was going on and Victoria was a little perplexed as well, but had a little better indication.  
_

 _Suddenly an arm grabbed him from one of the barrack's rooms. He glanced over and saw that it was Kelsey pulling him into the room. She didn't say anything but instead kicked the door closed with her foot and kissed him hard once she knew it was closed. Of course he kissed her back but holy shit, that was not how he was imagining kissing her for the first time. At all._

 _"That can't happen again until after IOC," Kelsey said, breathlessly._

 _"What the hell?" Patrick asked. "Not that I minded, but that was a little left field, even for you."_

 _She shrugged. "Had to get my feelings out there. Before you ask questions, and you really can't. I was in Virginia Beach this weekend. With my brother. I have an older half brother. He's a SEAL. I haven't exactly updated my paperwork yet or my security clearance paperwork, although I did put in a request two weeks ago, and NCIS had a lot of questions of why my ID signed into a secure DEVGRU base."_

 _"Wow, okay. I don't even know where to start with that Kels," Patrick said, as he ran his hands through his hair. "I'm glad you told me. I'm guessing the older half brother is the guy, Clay, that you tried to pass off as a friend from ASU."_

 _"I knew you saw straight through that so I had to tell you. And I wanted to tell you because you deserve to know if we're going to do whatever we're going to do. And I also told the Colonel that I am doing the Infantry Officer Course. So me kissing you, again, can't happen until that course is done."_

 _"Holy fuck, Kels," Patrick replied. "Wow. I am so proud of you for saying you'll do IOC. And a little in shock that you are finally telling me your feelings."_

 _She rolled her eyes but kissed him again. "Oh shut up."_

* * *

Around dinner time Friday evening, 4 days after Clay was shot, Sonny entered Clay's hospital room in Germany. They had stayed the night on the Stennis before stabilizing Clay enough to get him on a plane to Germany for further medical treatment. Captain Harrington had ordered the rest of Bravo home but Sonny could continue on with Clay and stay with him until he was MEDEVAC'd home to Walter Reed, in Bethesda, Maryland. He would stay in Bethesda for as long as he needed but he if could be transferred to Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Norfolk, which was only a 20 minute drive from Virginia Beach area, he would be transferred.

To Sonny's surprise, a very well dressed woman in her early 40's sat, scrolling on her phone, beside Clay's bedside. He almost dropped the cup of coffee when he saw her because he had absolutely no idea who she was. He instinctively tried to reach for a weapon but didn't have one on him. Davis had managed to get him some civilian clothes for his time in Germany but hospital rules were no weapons allowed, so his Glock stayed in base accommodations where he was staying.

"No need to shoot me," the woman said.

Sonny raised an eyebrow. "I just might if you don't tell me your name."

She stood up to shake Sonny's hand. "Leah Wellington."

He shook her hand but eyed her very carefully. "Chief Petty Officer Sonny Quinn. CIA? DIA?"

Leah laughed. "I'm flattered. Family."

"Clay doesn't have any family."

"Alright, I'll do this again. Leah Wellington, Kelsey's mom," she said, as she sat down in the chair she originally occupied in. Sonny leaned against a wall, continuing to eye her suspiciously.

Okay, Sonny didn't see that coming. "Okay, I won't shoot you. What is Kelsey's mom doing in Germany at Clay's bedside when Kelsey doesn't even know that he's in Germany and very badly injured."

"Your Senior Chief Perry called my husband. Something about a little backup Lieutenant Shanahan requested. My husband was planning on being at her graduation anyways, so it wasn't a big deal. I, however, was already in Amsterdam for work meetings when Jon called me to tell me about Clay and the little problem about Kelsey finding out."

"So you just thought you'd take a little jaunt over and visit him?"

She shrugged. "I am family, now."

"Is she going to freak when she finds out that we've been intentionally keeping her in the dark?"

Leah shrugged. "We raise our daughters to be headstrong, independent and to shatter glass ceilings and then have a problem when they do all of the above. Yeah, she's going to freak and she's going to have a problem with it."

"Do you think Clay made the best decision in asking us not to tell her?"

Kelsey's mom shrugged again. "I don't know. I do know that it is about noon Virginia time and all hell is about to be raised."

"I'm going to be really forward in asking this, but why keep your daughter from Clay until now?"

Leah shrugged. "Well first of all, Clay's grandparents didn't exactly keep him on this continent long enough to establish a great relationship with him. I kept in touch, somewhat, with his grandma until she passed away. Secondly, would you let your teenage daughter willingly be more around Ash Spencer?"

Sonny had to admit she had a point. "No."

"Ash could have told her about him for 18 years but he never once did. Yes, I did keep tabs on Clay because I knew I would eventually have to tell her. Yes, I got spooked when that stupid book came out and yes, I got spooked even more when Ash mentioned he was dropping a second book. I had no idea how much influence that bastard had in Clay's life. My husband disagreed with me over me not telling Kelsey and pretty much went to her house in Arizona one day, right after she got back from OCS and told her. She went to Ash right away and said I want to meet him and it wasn't until now that Ash delivered the message."

"Huh. Does Clay know all of that?"

Leah nodded. "Yes. He understands. I told him everything. We met at Kelsey's TBS graduation."

Sonny shook his head. "Kelsey may be a royal pain in our asses but she showed up at the right time in Clay's life. He was and still is going through a rough breakup and I think she's been the best thing for him."

Leah changed the subject. "What does the doctor's say?"

"Not much change; still too weak to be flown back. They are hoping within the next day. There is definitely signs of sepsis but they think they caught it early in time, it's just a matter of it not spreading further and affecting his organs."

"His dad went into septic shock one time. They didn't think he was going to make it then either."

Sonny raised an eyebrow. Here he though Ash Spencer was practically bulletproof- in and out of the Navy. "Oh?"

"Yeah, he got into a bar fight in the Philippines with a bunch of his Team while off duty one night and ended up with a knife into his abdomen, puncturing some vital organ. Didn't end well. I was at home with his three week old baby when I got that phone call."

"Sounds like Ash."

"Not surprising that his son took after him in the ultra magnificent ways to get badly injured."

* * *

About five minutes after the Major released the graduating class of 81 2nd Lieutenants, Kelsey limped her way over to find her step-father, in his service-alpha's. Not many parents or significant others were at this graduation, but she did have family in the military who recognized the fact that she was the third female Marine to graduate from this brutal course, so he made a point of attending. That and his own commanding officer told him he had to attend.

She hugged him briefly and then eyed him warily as she could feel Patrick approaching her. "I knew you were most likely coming if I graduated but the fact that you are here and my brother isn't, is giving me some really hinky feelings."

"Why do you say that?" Master Chief Jon Wellington asked.

Kelsey raised his eyebrow. "Because I have a text message from over a week ago that said that he was going to be on a quick spin up to the Middle East on a quick op and he would be back and he's not here. And you are. What the fuck is going on."

Patrick looked at Jon and then back at Kelsey. "Master Chief Hayes and Senior Chief Perry called me four days ago."

"Jason and Ray called YOU!?" she exploded at Patrick.

Jon guided them to where they were in a less public space and not as many people could hear the hell and fury that Kelsey was going to unleash on Patrick and her step-father for intentionally keeping her in the dark. "Senior Chief Perry also called me," Jon confirmed.

Patrick looked at Kelsey, pointedly. "Are you going to let me finish?" When all she gave him was a glare, he continued. "Clay was on an op in the Middle East when they got into a little bit of trouble. He was shot three times and they couldn't get him out because they were in the middle of a sandstorm. Finally a pilot from the Stennis agreed to risk his life to fly in there and get him out. They did, they got him to Djibouti and then flew him to the Stennis. They stabilized him overnight and then flew him to Germany where he still is."

Kelsey's jaw dropped as she struggled to remain calm but spoke her next words very carefully. "Why the flying fuck was I not told my brother is lying in a hospital room in Germany, almost dying? I am the only name on his paperwork for emergencies! I think almost dying constitutes as a worthy phone call! I have power of attorney!"

"Because in a moment of consciousness, he explicitly asked Senior Chief Perry not to tell you. And to tell me instead so I could use my judgement on when to tell you."

Kelsey considered this for a second and then shrugged. "Guess I'll just have to go to Germany to rip my brother a new one." Shockingly, she wasn't mad at Patrick at all. He was doing what he was told and he was probably given orders to do what he did. She respected that. She also respected that he was following her brother's wishes. She was, however, not okay with what her brother asked Ray to do. That was not sitting well with her.

A booming voice from behind her told her that was off limits. "Denied, Lieutenant."

She and Patrick snapped to attention as Senator Shanahan approached. "Senator," she said, cautiously. She had met Patrick's dad before, but as Patrick's dad and not as Senator Shanahan.

"Congratulations Lieutenant," he said. "But you are not going to Germany. I am aware of Petty Officer Spencer's injuries. Still, denied." As a ranking member on the House Armed Force Committee, he probably had the authority to stomp any speculation that she could get herself to Germany that night.

She raised an eyebrow at the Senator. "And I am supposed to wait here until he gets MEDEVAC'd to Walter Reed?"

He nodded. "Yes. Your next job is to get your ass to medical, go get some x-rays on that foot. And then your step-father and I are going to take Lieutenant Shanahan and you out for dinner tonight for a meal that doesn't consist of MRE's. You can't take care of your brother unless you take care of yourself."

She smiled weakly at Patrick, wondering if he somehow planned all of this. He could take her punches and roll with them but it was a lot smarter to bring her step-father and the Senator so she couldn't absolutely lose it on anyone. And then to have to go out for dinner, albeit with Patrick's dad and not Senator Shanahan, later she had to be on her best behavior while she sat there thinking about her brother. "Sounds like a plan, sir."

Jon then looked at Kelsey. "Your mother is with Clay now. And so is Sonny Quinn. You can call your mom to get an update on his condition. After you get x-rays."

She felt a little better knowing her mom had somehow made it to Germany to be by Clay's bedside but didn't really put much thought into it; her mom was always traveling in Europe on business. "Oh I will be calling her. I still hate all of you for this. Not cool."

"Only doing what's best for you and Clay," Patrick replied.

"Doesn't mean I like it."


	6. Chapter 6

Kelsey stepped foot into the hospital room at Walter Reed, in Bethesda, Maryland, shortly after 2 pm, two days later. She was insistent on going to Germany and everyone around her was equally adamant on her not going. Sonny and her mother were with Clay and she did not need to go to Germany. That was the official line coming from Bravo as well. She was to remain Stateside. She was absolutely furious, swear words were hurled at everyone in her wake, as well as threats. She was getting to her brother's side, and nobody was going to stand in her way. Eventually they all came to a compromise- Clay was getting on the next flight to Andrews Air Force Base and she could be with him at Walter Reed in Bethesda.

Anyways, Patrick hadn't let her out of his sight in those two days so she couldn't slip off on a Space A to Ramstein, even if she wanted to or could. She had to admit it was really nice to spend two days with her "boyfriend", away from the military and actually get to know him a little better. She was also seeing how maybe her brother was right in the fact that Patrick may be the only guy that would be willing to keep up with her and her career, so she might as well hang onto him. She'd never admit this to Clay though. Ever. Never in a million years. Patrick stayed until that morning and then he was off to California, where he would be stationed at Camp Pendleton. He was checking in with his new unit in a couple days and needed to get an apartment set up. She knew her own parents would check in on him, just like Patrick's parents would check in on her on the East Coast. Kind of comical, really.

Clay was still heavily sedated from his flight from Germany. Sonny had been pretty insistent with his doctors at Landstuhl that he be transferred immediately and they somehow pulled through, which she appreciated. That and Kelsey was going to rain hell down on whoever over at Germany that he be transferred Stateside immediately. In this case, it was better they deal with Sonny than a very angry Kelsey Vanderhoek. She ran into Bravo 3 in the entrance of the hospital. He hadn't said much but just said he was glad she was here. He was going back to Andrews and getting a flight back to Dam Neck and then he'd grab some more clothes and drive back up to Bethesda. In the meantime, Kelsey probably wouldn't be leaving Clay's side.

She looked at her brother as she sat beside his bed and just sighed and shook his head. How the hell did they end up here? She was still furious at him and would release that fury on him later, when he was more coherent. He looked like shit, but she guessed that what was going to happen to a person after they were in and out of a coma for a better part of a week and had three bullet holes in a person.

"Good afternoon Lieutenant," Navy corpsman Anne-Marie West said, as she came into the room.

"I'm not in uniform, corpsman," she replied. "Please don't ma'am me here."

Anne-Marie smiled. "Understood. The guy who came in with him on the flight said that you would be by."

Kelsey smiled at the nurse as she checked Clay's vitals. "Oh probably with disdain and some curse words thrown in there."

The nurse smiled again. "I'm not sure if he's a fan of you, ma'am."

Kelsey laughed. "Sonny's only not a fan of me because I outrank him and I'm his platoon buddy's sister. So I'm off limits."

"How's the foot?" Anne-Marie asked, pointing to the walking boot on Kelsey's left foot.

She rolled her eyes at the nurse. "My boyfriend is making me take daily pictures with a date and time stamp and send it to him as proof I'm wearing the damn thing. I hate it."

"Sounds like a smart guy," Anne-Marie replied. "Dr. Patel will be by in around an hour. She's the resident on call and she will give you an update on his condition."

"Thanks."

The resident on call, Dr. Patel, who looked to be maybe Kelsey's age, came by and gave her an update on Clay's condition. The sepsis wasn't sinking in too bad so at this point it was up to Clay's body to fight back. The three bullet holes in him, didn't hit anything vital, they had just hit in bad spots, hence him losing so much blood in the field. She thought that he would make a full recovery. It would be a brutal recovery though.

Kelsey stepped out to grab some coffee an hour or two later and in the lobby where the coffee was, she was approached by two men and she had a feeling she knew exactly who they were.

"CIA?"

The man laughed. "No."

"NSA?"

He shook his head. "DIA."

"Why are you approaching me at a hospital? Do you have any tact?" She rebuked him as she began to walk away.

"We really want to talk to you," he replied.

She decided to throw him a bone. "Alright, you have five minutes. Talk."

After the very enlightening conversation, she returned to the hospital room. The sedative was slowly starting to wear off and he was starting to become more aware of his surroundings. The corpsman, Anne-Marie, stood by in the corner as it very quickly wore off.

Clay was confused as he woke up and looked around. "This isn't Germany."

"No, you dumb-ass. I made them fly you back to Walter Reed ASAP because they wouldn't let me fly to Germany," Kelsey replied. That and Clay really did need to be stateside, and the quicker the better.

He groaned. "Where's Sonny?"

"You're asking about him?" she said, as she slowly gave him a drink of water after she got a nod from the nurse. "He went back to Dam Neck to get some clothes and shit. He'll be back tomorrow."

Clay groaned. "So I'm stuck with you?"

Kelsey smiled; her brother was coming back. "You're always stuck with me."

He was slowly falling back asleep so she sat back in the chair and looked at her phone. She was not impressed with that conversation with those two DIA officers but there wasn't much she could do about it. She couldn't go to her brother for advice, he couldn't know. The only other person she could think was Blackburn, but she also didn't want to get him involved in her career. So she was going to have to mull this over herself.

Anne-Marie paused before she left the room. "You alright? You look like you saw a ghost?"

"Yeah," Kelsey replied. "Just nothing."

"Yeah, okay," the nurse, said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. She did leave the room, but not without a glance back at Clay and Kelsey.

Kelsey was lost in her own little world when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She was a little curious on who it could be because Victoria off the grid right now in flight ops, Patrick said he'd call her later that night, her mom was somewhere in Europe still and Jon was in a field exercise. And any of her other friends that she might have held outside the military thought she was still MIA on a field op. That and nobody called her anymore. Calling was overrated.

United States Senator Dan Shanahan's work number was not who she was expecting. She pressed ignore and he'd text her right away. Sure enough, the text came through.

 **From: Dan Shanahan (work)  
** **Where are you? We need to talk.**

The words "we need to talk" were never good. Even more bad when they came from your "boyfriend's" father. And even worse when they came from his work phone, which highly suggested this was military related. That scared Kelsey. Immensely. Dan Shanahan didn't call her from his work phone just to chat. He knew she was hanging around the area, as he knew Patrick's flight to San Diego was this morning. And she was waiting for Clay to come back.

 **To: Dan Shanahan (work)  
** **Walter Reed.**

He'd figure it out.

 **From: Dan Shanahan (work)  
** **Can you hobble your way to the Tower? Lopez will meet you out front in 45 mins.**

On her way to meet Dan, she stopped by the front desk to let the nurses know she was leaving for a bit.

"Surprised you're leaving the base," Anne-Marie commented.

Kelsey shrugged. "Duty calls."

"You're not on duty. You're on leave, albeit spending it on a Navy base," she pointed out.

Kelsey's eyebrows shot up. "That's what I thought," she replied. "Text me if anything changes."

"Hope you didn't fuck up too bad," Anne-Marie commented as she went back to filling out paperwork. Clearly she knew the Navy well.

A black suburban was parked outside the Tower, with a US Marshal driving it. Kelsey knew his name was Lopez, from when Lopez and Dan came down two days ago to Quantico. Dan had made some enemies and now had a US Marshal as his protection detail. The US Senator thought it was stupid as he had done his time in uniform, he could protect himself.

She climbed into the backseat where Dan was on his phone. He eyed her walking boot. "Surprised to see that you're still wearing it. Or did you just put it on to walk here?"

"It's on. Your son is making me take snapchats with a time stamp to send to him to prove I'm still wearing the damn thing, thank you very much."

Dan raised his eyebrows. "I raised a smart kid, what can I say?"

"What do you want?" Kelsey asked. "Telling me that we need to talk, from your work phone? I know you gave that number to me months ago in case of an emergency but anytime Patrick texts you, its on your personal number."

Dan turned to face her and then turned to Lopez. "My son is dating a pretty smart girl over here."

"You got my attention, so what's going on?"

"Let's go out for dinner and then we can talk about it. Anywhere in mind around here?"

She shrugged. "There's a Chipotle."

"I was more thinking along the lines of Rock Bottom Brewery or Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, not Chipotle."

"You asked me where I wanted to eat; I gave my answer," she fired back. "Plus, it's been nine months since I've had that glorious food."

Dan rolled his eyes. "Lopez, I guess we are going to Chipotle."

"Still can't believe you are turning down a steak for fast food, my friend," the US Marshal said.

After the food, Dan had Lopez drop them at a park on the banks of the Potomac where they could talk in private, with nobody watching or talking. The sun was setting and it was still somewhat warm out, so they could sit outside and have a chat.

"Probably wondering why I called you onto the carpet while your brother is lying in a hospital bed," Dan said.

Kelsey nodded. "I have my suspicions."

"NCIS has opened an investigation into the leak of classified information after your father went on air about the Saudi op," Dan said.

Kelsey exhaled hard. That wasn't quite what she was expecting. "That was months ago. Why now?"

"You just finished IOC. They want to talk to you," Dan replied. "That and they were waiting to see if Ash would spill that his daughter just finished a very rigorous infantry training course that only two other women previously had passed. That's something that would boost his cred."

She sighed. "Are we on the record or off the record?"

"Completely off," Dan replied. "I'm just giving you a heads up."

"You'd have to pull my phone records to see the last time I called or texted my father. My dad isn't exactly a willing participant in mine or Clay's life. Dan, you know all of this."

"Yeah, I do. Because I know Ash. The Special Ops community is tight. I know the bastard. And I know your brother didn't leak the info."

Kelsey looked at him, surprised. Not that he had worked with her father, but that Dan believed that Clay didn't leak the info to Ash. "Good. Because I'd be having a very hard time believe any intelligence that says Clay willingly told Ash any sort of classified information."

"There's still going to be some questions about both of your relationships with Ash."

"I told the Marine Corps specifically to leave my name out of press releases that said another woman was going to graduate IOC, just so Ash couldn't use that ammo. I'm going into Intelligence; I don't want my name out there either. At all. Plus, Clay told me not to as well." Kelsey said.

"Smart. Along those lines, I know the DIA visited you today."

Kelsey shot her future father in law a look of disbelief. "I know you are a US Senator on the House Intelligence Committee, but you're not that good."

"NCIS classified your personnel file as a favor to me and well, they should anyways. To keep journalists from getting it, if there was ever a leak that you graduated, and to keep Ash's cronnies from ever getting a hold of it. They alerted me that DIA accessed it."

"DIA visited me. I told them to fuck off."

Dan raised an eyebrow. "It would do a lot for your career."

"Yeah, and I also told them they could come back with their spiel after I've done a deployment or once I'm being put on as a staff officer. I didn't join the Marine Corps just to work for the DIA right away. Why? Would you have told them differently?"

Dan shrugged. "I'd probably be a little more flattered, but honestly, no. You made the right choice. The DIA is just beating the alphabet soup to the punch. You're hot commodity right now. Everyone wants you."

"Why'd you let me in on the investigation?"

He shrugged again. "You don't deserve to be blindsided when NCIS shows up at the hospital."

"Yeah, thanks, I guess."

"Come on, let's go. I should get you back to the hospital. Are you staying at Base Lodging?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It's free."

Dan laughed. "So is our house. We live half an hour from the hospital. You can come and go as you please. If my wife finds out that you are staying in base lodging, she will pick you up herself and make you stay at the house. You have been through an intensive course; you deserve to sleep in a real bed for a change and have a decent shower. You are dating our son, don't be a stranger."

Kelsey rubbed her eyes. The offer did sound appealing, even if it was staying with her future in laws. The truth was, she truly did like Dan and Michelle. "You had me at a decent shower and a real bed."

* * *

Clay was busy getting his arm poked by a different nurse around 7:30 in the morning, along with vitals checked when his sister walked in. She looked a lot more rested than the little bit he saw of her yesterday, or that he could remember. She also came in with a hard line on her face and he knew she was mad. He didn't blame her; he knew she was pissed about him not telling her that he had been shot. Sonny had told him that much when he was in a little bit of consciousness in Germany. And Sonny pretty much told him to expect firework when he came home stateside. He was ready for it.

"That's not from on base," he said, looking at the coffee she was carrying.

She looked at him. "That's the first thing you have to say to me, this morning?"

"It was an observation."

Kelsey scratched her head as she sat down in the chair and had a sip of the coffee. "No, it's not from on base."

"You didn't stay in base lodging?"

"What's with the 20 questions this morning?" Kelsey asked.

Clay shrugged. "I'm bored."

She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "God help me for the next however many weeks you are stuck in your own apartment."

"Where did you stay?"

She glared at him. "Maybe if you stopped asking the questions with such a predatory and accusing tone, I'd maybe answer them with nothing to do but annoy me."

He raised an eyebrow at looked at her as he tried to shift in bed. "Kelsey, where were you last night?" He was starting to get very concerned with where she stayed last night. He knew she had connections in the DC area, but he also knew she had a "boyfriend" in Patrick Shanahan and did not want to see her fuck that up and her refusal to answer his questions was not making him happy.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm fucking with you, asshole. I stayed with Dan and Michelle."

He tried putting the pieces together but his drug fogged brain couldn't. "Who?"

"My future in laws, as you call them."

Clay looked a little surprised at that. "Oh."

"You okay with that? As Dan pointed out, I haven't really slept in a real bed in over 9 months and besides showers at your place, I also haven't had really decent showers in 9 months."

He nodded. "Better than you sleeping here."

"Now you have a choice on whether you want to take a hit of morphine for this next conversation and you can have a choice on what you want to talk about your first. Your conversation with Ray Perry or a NCIS Investigation into us possibly leaking classified information to Ash Spencer."

Clay looked horrified at the thought of both possibilities. "We have to do this now?"

"Oh yes. Yes, we do."

"Well I don't think I can handle a conversation into our dad right now and I can tell that you are homicidally pissed at me," Clay said, heading falling back into the pillow and starring at the ceiling. "So lets get you wanting to kill me over with, please and thank you."

Kelsey looked at him. She wouldn't tell him about the latest piece of information she learned this morning. "I agree; your blood pressure can't handle an Ash conversation at this particular moment in time. Neither can mine for that matter. And yes, I am homicidally pissed at you. You gonna take a shot of Morphine or whatever the fuck they have you on?" She remembered Dr. Patel saying they had him on Dilaudid but painkillers were painkillers.

He looked at her. "I'd like to keep my wits about me."

"Take the damn painkillers."

"No."

Kelsey finished her coffee. "Fine. Do you remember what you told Ray?"

He looked at her, head still on the pillow. "Quite clearly. Not to tell you."

"Why?"

"I wanted you to finish IOC with a clear mind."

She sighed. "My mental stability and my mental state was not your decision. At all. You can't protect me."

He looked at her, tried to shrug and then remembered he had a bullet hole in his left shoulder. "I'm your big brother. It's my job to protect you."

"Yes and no. I get you haven't been a part of my life until recently and you want to be a part of it and you think being a big brother is part of it, which is great. But in this case, you don't get to protect me. My mental ability to do my fucking job is up to me, and not up to you to decide whether its okay to tell me relevant information. What if I am deployed to Syria or Iraq, who's going to be holding my hand then and controlling the flow of personal information? Not you."

"Fair point."

"I am a United States Marine. I am a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and they apparently have faith in me to lead an infantry team of men into war. You need to have faith in me right now. I can do my fucking job. Even with news of you getting shot. I know I have a brother who is a DEVGRU operator. My whatever he is, is a Recon Lieutenant. I have prepared myself for these types of phone calls. I knew what I was getting into."

"So what you're trying to hammer home at me right now is that I can't protect you?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm going to have to learn how to fuck up and make my own bad decisions in my career, in my personal life, despite how much you want to protect me. Looking out for me is fine, protecting me- I gotta stand on my own two feet, Clay."

"Understood."

"Not to mention, I have power of attorney on your medical decisions. Do not shut me out again. If you decide you want to do that again, you fucking tell Blackburn to take my name off and put my mother's name on. Am I making myself crystal clear?"

He nodded. "She came to Germany. I was a little surprised to wake out of my coma to Leah Wellington sitting beside my bedside."

"She's good at surprises. You didn't repeat after me, though. Did I make myself crystal clear that you are to never shut me out of medical decisions like this again?"

Clay nodded again. "Crystal, ma'am." He'd take her advice though and put Leah Wellington as his second emergency contact though. It was nice to have a "family", one who immensely cared about him. And he certainly wouldn't be making this mistake again of trying to shield her from his life.

"Good. I'm a big girl with a security clearance as high as yours; I can take your job and the unfortunate events it brings with it. I love you, so let me into your life a little bit more," Kelsey pleaded.

Clay sighed. He knew it came down to the fact that it was hard letting someone else back into his life so soon after Stella, but this wasn't a girlfriend, this was his sister. This was his sister who had a high enough security clearance and friends in the right places to probably find out where he had been. This was his sister who demanded he be flown to Andrews right away or she was on the next flight to Ramstein. This was his sister who told him to put her own mom down as his emergency contact and ultimately, this was his sister who would do anything for him. "I'm sorry for not telling you."

"Take some morphine now, please," Kelsey said, smiling, accepting the apology in her own way.


	7. Chapter 7

Clay was putting a shirt on when his door opened. His sister was a usual suspect, although he expected her home hours ago. Brock and Lisa, carrying a dresser was totally not what he was expecting. And then they put it in Kelsey's room. He was still utterly confused, even when Kelsey walked in a couple seconds later, hands full of shopping bags that looked like they came from Bath Bed and Beyond.

Lisa came out of Kelsey's room and smiled. "Nice bullet holes Spencer."

He rolled his eyes. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Moving furniture," Brock answered.

"I get that," Clay responded. "Why?"

Kelsey had put the bags she was carrying down and looked at her brother. "I'm two weeks into a probably six month stay living here and all I've been sleeping on is an air mattress. I can rough it, but not for six months. So Lisa and I went shopping." Clay had to think for a second, not hearing Lisa being called by her first name very often. Okay, his sister did have a point but he didn't really expect her to just go out and buy furniture.

"And then I politely reminded your sister that she is in a walking boot and therefore is not supposed to be carrying heavy furniture, so I called Brock to come help us move it."

"What else did you buy?" Clay asked.

"A mattress," Brock answered and Lisa and him left to go grab it. They returned a couple minutes later and put it in Kelsey's room.

"Speaking of moving in, has your BAH kicked in yet so you can pay me rent?" Clay asked sarcastically, although he really was joking, he didn't expect her to pay rent. Kelsey paid for all their food anyways.

Lisa looked at her. "The Corps still hasn't given you BAH?"

She shook her. "Nope. Called last week and they said they would get on it but they haven't. Very annoying. Having a dual MOS is probably complicating things."

"Does NAS Oceana even have BOQ for you to stay in?" Brock asked.

She shook her head. "Not actually BOQ. They have a couple rooms that some of my classmates are in but this is technically a TDY, we get BAH anyways and we are officers."

"Stupid that you guys get more for a BAH," Brock grumbled.

Clay turned to her. "Wait, you get more than me for your BAH?"

"Yeah, I'm an officer so my housing allowance is more than you at an E-5 and probably Lisa at an E-6," Kelsey turned to him. "How long have you been in the Navy?"

Lisa just chuckled. "She gets about $200 more than you, without dependents, Clay. Plus on top of her extra pay as an O-1. However, you get combat pay and incentives and she doesn't yet."

"Patrick made a joke that we should get married, just for the extra pay. I mean, I'd marry him anyways but it's not a bad idea."

Clay stay silent for a second, as her bringing up marriage with Patrick was a first. It wasn't that long ago that he was trying to convince her to give the guy a chance. "How much extra pay are we talking about?"

Kelsey looked to Lisa for help and she did. "Both of them would get the increase in BAH and since you're technically on a TDY, the senior of you two would get separation family pay, at least for a year or two until they figured it out."

"He's the senior since he went to Annapolis. But do you really think all those junior enlisted actually get married because they love their spouse after two weeks of dating? Fuck no. They get married because the only way the military will recognize their significant other is with a marriage certificate and for the increase in pay," Kelsey said. "Again, how long have you been in the Navy?"

Brock shrugged. "We both went to BUD/S right away so we never really saw that but you do have a point."

Lisa changed the subject. "How's physio?"

Kelsey answered for him. "His PT is a fucking smoke show."

Clay sat down on the couch and rolled his eyes at his sisters response. "It's going,"

"What do you mean his PT is a smoke show?" Lisa asked.

"Blonde hair, blue eyes and can probably out squat me," Kelsey said. "She's a babe."

Brock and Lisa both turned to Clay. "So?"

"What, she's my physio therapist. Naval sent me off base, which is weird, but whatever. But she's good."

"Former Army medic, I'll try and not hold that against her, got out and got her Masters in physical therapy," Kelsey explained for the other Bravo members. "We went out for a drink not too long ago. And I think Clay should ask her out."

"See, Clay, even your sister approves. Which is great, considering I heard she cock blocked you at a party," Lisa said.

"How did you hear about that?"

Lisa raised her eyebrows. "I know everything."

Clay shook his head. "Did you two put that pilot who rescued me up for the Distinguished Flying Cross?"

Lisa nodded her head. "Packet is being routed up his chain of command, but he should get it."

Kelsey's phone started ringing and she raised her eyebrows. "Speaking of helicopter pilots, Victoria is calling me. She never calls; this ought to be a good one. I'll be back in a couple minutes."

An hour later, she exited to find Sonny, Trent, Ray, Jason and Mikey there with Lisa at her stove, cooking dinner. She looked to her brother, very confused on what was going on. Bravo had never come over for an impromptu dinner before. And who the hell invited all of them over? Also in her apartment was Cerb, who Brock probably gone home to get. "What's going on?"

"We are having dinner," Clay answered. "How's the Marine Corps newest Super Huey pilot doing?"

Kelsey raised her eyebrows. "Carl pretty much Dear John'd her."

Ray, who was talking to Clay, turned to her with a surprised look on her face. "Your best friend got dumped?"

"He makes good money but basically said he could handle his future wife being more successful and powerful than him and he said he couldn't do long distance anymore," Kelsey said. She had met Victoria's, now ex-fiance, Carl, a couple times and always got the spidey senses about the guy but never expected him to just wake up one day and dump her.

Ray raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "Ouch. That's brutal."

"How's she doing?" Clay asked.

Kelsey shrugged her shoulders. "Not well. You gotta be strong and somewhat of a bitch to be a female pilot in a man's world but she didn't see it coming. He was supposed to come down in two weeks and then she gets an email outta the blue."

"You gonna go see her?" Ray asked.

She shrugged again. "I can't. I have leave but I'm in school, I can't use it. I can't even ask for a weekend pass this soon in. She's going to try and ask for a weekend pass and come up here but she doubts she'll get one. Next best is Patrick flying out to Pensacola on the Friday night and getting a Space A, which he can get and getting a commercial flight back on Sunday; he's in the fleet now so he can do it. We aren't."

"I sure do not miss being in school or teaching school and not being able to leave," Ray muttered. He spoke up. "She's a female Marine and I'm guessing she's the only female in her class and hasn't made too many friends with her male counterparts?"

"Carl was the jealous type, and basically. Don't get me wrong, her and Patrick are decent friends but she always downplayed it to her ex-fiance that Patrick only hung around us because of me."

Clay looked at her. "And does Patrick trust you?"

"Patrick also knows that most of the men I hang out with are enlisted sailors," Kelsey pointed out.

Ray laughed. "Point taken. You didn't answer his question though."

"He trusts me and I trust him. End of story."

Ray looked at Clay and then back at Kelsey. "Have you told your command that you're living with an enlisted sailor?"

"Yes."

"And they didn't have a problem with it?" Clay asked. He didn't even think to ask her; fraternizing with enlisted wasn't completely against regulations but it was frowned upon. Since it was her brother's friends and unit and it was a completely different branch, she had a little bit more leeway on the enlisted/officer fraternization.

She shrugged. "My CO is pretty legit and he basically said if my enlisted brother wasn't spec ops, he would have said absolutely no but it also temporary. He re-iterated that he's not happy but he won't stop me. But I am going to help Lisa make dinner for all you Neanderthals."

* * *

Clay was at physio at 9 am on Saturday morning, getting tortured by the smoke show herself- Stephanie Sloane. He was going back on active duty on Monday and she wanted a couple more sessions with him before and during that first week. At first he argued but then he relented. It wasn't necessarily the two bullets he took to his abdomen, it was more the bullet that went into his shoulder. That did some serious damage. Nothing long term but it still hurt like a mother.

Sloane, as pretty much everyone in the military referred to her as, nodded her head to the waiting room. She was the only one working today, as she only worked one Saturday a month. "Who's that picking you up?"

Clay sighed as he saw it was Naima. He liked Ray's wife, he really did. He could just use without the poking and prodding today. Especially on a Saturday morning when he was feeling hung over, but he supposed that was part of Naima coming to pick him up. He didn't get full released to drive until Monday morning, when the doctor hopefully signed off on full duty as well. "My 2IC's wife."

"Where's Kels?" Sloane and Kels had hitted off immediately and had showed her some of the good off base gyms to work out at as Kelsey really didn't like the gym on base. She only went there the once and then said she was never going back- too busy and she hated the "vibe." Kelsey was far from being a diva but she was picky about the gyms she went to and Clay didn't blame her that much.

Clay looked at her. "She didn't invite you out last night?"

"She said something about drinking but I said I had to work early so she said she'd talk to me later. What went down last night?"

He rubbed his face with his hands as Sloane look at him. "Her best friend got dumped by her fiancé so she got a weekend pass from Pensacola and well, they went to town last night."

Sloane handed him his shirt back. "And if there's one thing assumption I have about your little sister in the short time I've known her is that she can drink."

Clay rolled his eyes. "She got that from our father. Girl can drink. And then some. So can Tori though. Must be a Marine thing."

"I bet that its gonna be one hella weekend then," Sloane said. "See you Tuesday evening?"

Clay nodded. "Yeah," he said. "See you around."

Naima had one eyebrow raised at him when he walked into the waiting area. "Is Kelsey really that inebriated?"

"Her, Tori and Matt didn't stop drinking until 4 or 5 am. Even Sonny quit at 2 when they kicked us out of Bulkhead."

Naima waited for Clay to get into her SUV. "And you?"

"I drank at the bar but I went to bed once I got home. And I certainly was not trying to keep up with her or Tori."

She signalled out of the parking lot. "How is living with her?"

"You tell anyone that it's the best thing for me, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident. She keeps my head on straight."

Naima looked at him. "And what about the boys she brings over?"

He laughed a little. "Thankfully I don't have to worry about that. She's got a solid guy."

"How do you feel about that?"

"He's stationed at Pendleton. No complaints there. He's a Recon guy and if he can put up with my sister's shit, then he can stay around."

She looked at him casually as she continued driving. "Between you and me, how are you after Stella?"

Clay sighed. "I'm better. Not coming to an empty house anymore helps."

"You loved her."

"I did. But shit happens. Why'd you come pick me up Naima?"

"21C's wife can't look out for the other guy's on her husband's team? Alana isn't here anymore. Someone's gotta do it. I stopped by Sonny's the other day, shockingly he wasn't six beers deep."

After thanking Naima for the ride home, Clay slowly climbed the stairs to his apartment. He nodded hello at Derek's wife in the hallway and opened the door, wondering what disaster he was walking into. To his surprise, Victoria and one of Kelsey's only friends so far, Lieutenant Matt Parker, were making breakfast in his small kitchen. All the evidence from last night had been cleaned up save for the air mattress in the living room floor that Matt must have slept on. Clay was a little impressed.

"Where's Kels?"

Matt shrugged, flipping pancakes. "On a run."

"She's not supposed to run. She only got that boot off three days ago," Clay commented as Tori passed him a coffee.

Tori shrugged. "Probably why she went when she did. She didn't leave that long ago. I was in the shower and Matt was just cleaning up."

"You guys look awfully chipper and good for drinking until 5 am," Clay commented.

His front door opened. "We're Marines. You shoulda tried it," she said. "I only went three miles."

Clay shook his head, drinking his coffee. "I will be saying I told you so at your next ortho check up when Dr. Nell tells you the stress fractures are back."

Kelsey narrowed her eyes at her brother. "You won't be there if your deployed."

"You don't think I have my ways?"

Kelsey wasn't calling that bluff. "I'm sure you do."

* * *

After the busy weekend was gone, Victoria was on a flight at Pensacola, FaceTime calls were made to Patrick with Clay joining in, filling him in of the weekend's festivities, it was just the two of them again. Kelsey was now feeling the alcohol. After shutting the Bulkhead Bar down on Friday, her, Tori and Sloane had gone clubbing in Norfolk and Virginia Beach and then ended up at a raging house party at a friend of a friend of Sloane's. They had ended up at iHop after where Sonny and Clay met them. A quick gym session later for all of them where the girls made Sonny do a booty workout and Clay laughed from the bike. Then Sonny said that every rifleman aka Kelsey and Victoria who were unrestricted line officers, should be able to shoot accurately after a night of drinking. The other enlisted members- Clay and Sloane concurred. After a round of everybody being at basically equal, even Sloane who had been out of the Army for 2 years, Sonny called in backup.

Full Metal came up with scenarios and targets for them to shoot at. They wasted a lot of ammo that afternoon but to everyone's surprise, Victoria came out on top. They were shooting with Glock 9mm. Kelsey and Clay were better long range shooters, Sloane was former Army medic so neither of those three were surprised they didn't win. Sonny was not happy he lost to a Marine female pilot though. Full Metal said he wouldn't let him forget. However, he did tell Kelsey he would be disappointed if she didn't go to sniper school, like her brother and father.

Clay stood up after finishing his beer. "Night," he said, pressing a kiss to Kelsey's hair.

She smiled at him, as she was laying down on the couch. "Night."

She was sound asleep at around 3 in the morning when something woke her up. She instinctively grabbed her gun but she quickly figured out the sounds were coming from her brother's bedroom. He was having a nightmare. She had been waiting for this since moving in with him. Her roommate at TBS had them and Kelsey used to just throw pillows at her to wake her up.

Kelsey was about to pick up a pillow from the couch to throw at him when she heard him say a name. She stopped and filed it in the back of her head before opening the door and throwing the pillow at her brother.

Clay also instinctively reached for the gun underneath his pillow, to find one not there. He looked up to find her leaning on the door frame.

"Looking for your gun?"

He wiped his face with his hand and looked at the couch pillow and sighed. "Yeah."

"I took it. As soon as you got home, since you're on so many painkillers. It's in the gun safe."

"Oh."

She sighed. "Go back to sleep," and closed the door behind her.

The next morning she was up early, went to Starbucks, ordered two drinks, and was waiting outside an apartment complex by 6:54 in the morning. She was leaning on the hood of her truck in her cammies, when CIA Office Mandy Ellis walked outside the front door of her condo.

"The CIA does not like when people know where their officers live," Mandy said as she took the coffee Kelsey offered.

Kelsey offered. "Yeah, well. Too bad for you that my brother gave you up."

"That's not very good news that a Tier 1 Operator caved immediately."

"I am very convincing."

Mandy looked at her. "What did you ask to give up my address?"

"Well, in his defence it was 6 30 in the morning, he just took Oxy and he hadn't had coffee but I told him I wanted to meet you to get some career advice."

The CIA Officer narrowed her eyes. "State your purpose. Your true purpose for ambushing me before work."

"Abin Atwal."


	8. Chapter 8

**7 months later**

Kelsey sat in the driveway of her mother and step-father's Oceanside home in her F-150, still in her cammies and laid her head on the steering wheel. She didn't want to move. She didn't want to think. She didn't want to face the questions from Jon inside. Hell, she didn't want to face her own thoughts. Whatever she thought her first day at her new command was going to be like, it wasn't what she thought it that.

Her cell phone vibrated in the console. Her first instinct was to ignore it but when she saw her brother's smiling face, she knew she had to answer after her first day at 1-1. He'd have questions, undoubtedly.

"It was horrible," she replied, answering.

"You're on speaker," Clay replied.

Kelsey sighed. "Good. Ya'll can start a pool on how fast I can get my first NJP under this command."

Everyone in Bravo was silent, letting that piece of news digest. Finally Jason laughed. "What did you do? And who's gonna throw a non judicial punishment at a Lieutenant?"

"My new Captain, that's who."

Ray whistled. "It went that well, huh?"

Kelsey blew her breath out, trying to figure out how much to tell them. She wished she was still living with Clay where she could blow of steam to him but on the other hand, Jason, Ray and Trent had a couple more years on Clay and Sonny and could provide some wisdom- albeit enlisted wisdom to her. "This doesn't leave this proverbial room, do you understand?"

She got a corresponding yes from everybody.

"I'm not telling my husband this. Only you guys. Because if my husband hears this, there will be hell to pay and he's deployed; I don't want him worrying more. If my brother hears this, I know he can't do anything about it because he's in a different service and doesn't have enough sway that my father-in-law has. Because my husband will call the big guns in. And Ray, I am counting on you to restrain Clay. Am I making myself clear?"

"What the fuck happened today, Lieutenant?" Jason demanded, forcefully. In Special Forces, rank wasn't really a thing- sailors and soldiers didn't salute and the formality didn't exist. However, Jason knew Kelsey wasn't SF and he would provide her with a little bit of respect in uniform but with what she was saying, he was concerned and rank be damned. He was going to get to the bottom of it and he was also going to protect her at the same time. She may be a Lieutenant, but she was Clay's little sister and that meant family.

Kelsey opened her mouth and then closed it again. "A little part of me is afraid I'm not going to make it through my deployment without getting fragged by my own men or my chain of command."

That spoke volumes. Clay spoke. No wonder why she was unwillingly to drop that bomb on Patrick. "Who doesn't want you at 1-1?"

"I think it starts with the Lieutenant Colonel. Lt. Colonel Downs. I don't have any proof of Downs not wanting me there yet but Captain Avery Fall is not getting is attitude from anywhere. He's not typical Old Guard Marine mentality."

"Why do you say that?" Ray asked.

"Captain Fall dressed me down with 2 of my fellow Lieutenants in the room and my Gunny. He told me he didn't want me in his chain of command, a woman had no part of being infantry, let alone leading a platoon, I was unfit to lead, just because I had the brains didn't mean I had the brawn and word for word told me he was setting me up to fail."

"Wow. That is toxic. He wants you to fail?"

Kelsey swallowed. "My own Captain told me he will make his mission that I don't succeed on his deployment. He already thinks I'm going to fail by suddenly announcing we are going into the field for 5 days in 2 days, however, everyone knew it was coming. My fellow Lieutenants, including his XO, and my Gunny have my ass covered. Despite my Captain wanting me to fail on this FTX, I'm not going to. And there will be hell to pay for me."

Sonny chimed in. "So turn your CO over to JAG."

"Not that easy, Sonny. Lieutenants word against a Captain's word, even if I have witnesses. Plus- what are they going to charge him with? Undue command influence? It's a good one but I need a pattern of behavior before going to JAG and I don't want to be that girl."

Jason sighed. "The Lieutenant is right. You writing all this down?"

"Notebook in the console of my truck. It's coming with me on deployment as well. I get fragged or injured in the field, tell NCIS where to look."

"Hell of a first day. I thought mine was bad with Bravo," Clay tried to break the ice.

Ray snickered. "I think your sister has you beat. Jason might have wanted to kill your ass but at least we didn't try and bury it like Captain Fall."

They hung up with Kelsey and the boys turned to Clay. Jason raised his eyebrows. "She got married and you didn't tell us?"

Clay shrugged. "It was the weekend you spun up without me after I cracked my ribs."

Ray nodded. "So I'm assuming you were at the wedding?"

"It was just his little sister, Carley, who came down from West Point, Victoria, me, Sloane, Matt Parker and another buddy he went to Annapolis with."

Sonny half snorted. "You don't have any objections to her getting married. I'm really surprised you didn't say anything."

"Wasn't my job to share."

"You didn't answer his question about any objections," Ray pointed out.

Clay sighed and gripped the table. "Wished he wasn't military."

* * *

Clay and Sloane were on the couch that night, beers in hand watching a movie. Clay had never felt so relaxed another person, save for his sister, as he did with former Army Specialist Stephanie Sloane. She was a God-send, especially with Kelsey's ever looming date of her getting orders cut for Camp Pendleton. A little bit of him had hoped his sister would get orders for Camp Lejeune, although he knew that would take her away from her husband, but it would put them within driving distance of each other. California was far away from Virginia and she had only been gone a week and he missed her.

Sloane turned to him. "Are you getting spun up in the next few days? Because you're actually awfully on edge."

Clay sighed. "No."

"Want to tell me what's going on then?"

"It's nothing."

She raised her eyebrow. "And I know that look, Clay. It's something military related that you can't fix and you hate when you can't do something about it."

"Something like that. You heard from Kelsey?"

Sloane shrugged. "She snapchatted me around noon her time. It looked like Pendleton and the caption just said 'I'm not in Kansas anymore.' I didn't want to prod. Why?"

"I called her."

"And you talked with her? I know Kelsey; she hates talking on the phone, as do the rest of us millennial's. She never answers your calls unless something big happened, like the day she told you she was going to pick up a marriage license with Patrick."

Clay rolled his eyes at that memory. "My point. She met her Captain and she had some interesting things to say."

Sloane sighed deeply. "Let me guess- toxic chain of command?"

"You sure you didn't talk to my sister?"

"She's not the only female in the military to have a toxic chain of command who doesn't believe in their ability and I won't get into it but I know where she is coming from. I've been there. Not as a leader, but I've experienced it."

Clay looked at Sloane; she had never really talked about her time in the Army. All he really knew is she did a deployment to Afghanistan as a medic and got out as a Specialist. "I'm worried about her on this deployment." He didn't want to share the fact that she was afraid of getting fragged by her own men. Sloane was smart enough and she was bound to talk to Kelsey about the Marine Corps eventually and would come to her own conclusions. Whether Sloane would share those with Clay was another matter; he really hoped she would reach out to him if she thought Kelsey was in danger.

"As you should be but you have to let her do her job. She's going to have to fight her own battles, just like I did mine. Hopefully she has a better outcome than I did. For her, she has family in the military on her side."

Clay looked at his pretty much girlfriend. "You ever going to tell me about what happened to you in the Army?"

"Maybe some day. Clay, look, she has you as a DEVGRU SEAL, she has a husband who's a reconnaissance Marine and her father-in-law is a sitting US Senator! If Kelsey gets into trouble over there, she has resources and I know her and I know she will use them to the best of her ability. If she calls in the big dogs, like Bravo, then she will and it will probably be damn important. Until then, you need to sit down, shut up and support her."

He was surprised to hear all of that coming from Sloane's mouth. "You think she would call her father-in-law if she needed help?"

Sloane took another sip of her beer. "Well Dan Shanahan has Mickey Crawford on retainer to represent his kids, including Kelsey, if they ever get into legal trouble within the military or outside."

"Former JAG lawyer Mickey Crawford?" Clay had heard that name around a couple times- he was a successful Navy JAG lawyer who decided to resign his commission and go into the private sector where he defended a high profile military contractor. The former Colonel wasn't fooling around with his kids' careers- Carley was now going into her senior year at West Point, Patrick had gone to Annapolis and was leading a recon platoon in Afghanistan and now his daughter-in-law was about to be a woman taking charge of an infantry platoon.

She slowly nodded. "That would be the one."

"How'd you find out?"

"Carley made a joke at the wedding that if they got into too much trouble, her Dad would have to call Mickey to bail them out of jail."

Clay decided to table the talk on his sister for now. "Back to you and the Army, you'll tell me eventually, right?"

Sloane shrugged. "Maybe."

* * *

The night before she deployed, Kelsey drove over to one of her fellow Lieutenant's apartments. He was single so she was really hoping she wasn't going to find some girl she didn't know about and them having goodbye sex and make it awkward but she really needed to talk to Lt. Austin Briggs.

She parked in the visitor parking lot and then walked up to the door and banged on it. She waited a minute before banging on it again. Finally Briggs opened the door in just a towel around his waist and all Kelsey could do was laugh.

"You are the last fucking person I wanted to be opening the door up to in a towel," Briggs said, as he opened the door for her to come in.

She grinned at her fellow Lieutenant. "Yeah, I'd imagine. I'll stay here while you get dressed."

Briggs groaned before walking to his room. Kelsey decided to go over to the kitchen where, unsurprisingly enough, she found the fridge empty, save for a 12 pack of beer. She got two beers out and opened them.

"Nice to see you made your way around my kitchen," Briggs said as he took the beer.

Kelsey shrugged. "Yeah, well, figured you could use that after I came banging on your door."

"About that; you are also the last person I expected to be banging on my door the night before deployment. Thought you'd be with your mom," Briggs commented. Briggs and Patrick had gone to Annapolis together, albeit Briggs a year ahead of Patrick. They knew each other and Briggs had reached out when he found out Patrick had been also stationed at Pendleton. Since Patrick was crashing at Kelsey's parents house before deploying, Briggs had been over to Leah and Jon Wellington's a couple times.

"My mother left this morning for Bogota on business," Kelsey commented. "And Jon is driving me crazy making sure I have everything."

Briggs laughed a little. "The Master Sergeant is useful to know what to pack for a deployment."

"I appreciate it, but he's driving me crazy. Patrick sent me a list of things he wanted so I mailed them out last week and I put a few of those things on my own packing list," Kelsey said.

Briggs took a sip of beer as he sat down on the couch. "What are you here for then, if it's not packing advice, which you would have probably sent in a text?"

Kelsey was silent for a minute before handing over a piece of paper with a number on it. "I need you to take this for safe keeping."

"Who's number and email is this?"

"Master Chief Jason Hayes. This isn't in my officer jacket and he's not listed as my emergency contact, my husband and my mother are, but I have a half brother. He's a SEAL who happens to be DEVGRU. That's the number to his Master Chief."

Briggs ran a hand over his stubble on his face as he realized the implication of his. "Is this a if-shit hits-the fan number?"

"Austin," Kelsey said, referring to him by his first name which she never did. "My husband trusts you so that means you are on my short list. I am fucking worried about this deployment. If anything suspicious happens to me, outside the wire or inside the wire, and you don't think it's on the up and up- give him a call. Jason will be able to rein my brother in but they will come for blood if anything happens to me. Anything. I am family to them."

Briggs contemplated this. "You're family to us too. I have your back."

Kelsey stood as she finished her beer. "Thanks. Keep the number."

Briggs held the door open for her. "I hope I don't have to use this."

"Me too, Austin. Me too."

* * *

 **AN: Short chapter, more to come. It won't be an easy ride for Miss Kelsey on deployment... at all.**


	9. Chapter 9

Kelsey ran her hand over her face as she sat in her new "office" that she shared with her fellow Lieutenants. "Nothing prepared me for the hellhole of Afghanistan."

Lt. Wesley Tan snickered. "Pretty sure all of Afghanistan is a hellhole."

"Yeah, if I woulda know we were going to Khost Province, I think I would have gone UA," Briggs muttered.

"I share Briggs sentiment," Kelsey said. "Nobody in this unit has deployed save for 3 of our Sergeants and my Gunny and our 1st Sergeant and we are the ones sent to Khost to take over for the ANA? We're the first ones back in here."

The XO, Lt. Noah Smith sighed. "Not many infantry units are battle hardened but I also share your sentiment."

The last Lt. Joe MacKenzie groaned. "It's almost like the Marine Corps wants us to be their guinea pigs."

Kelsey looked at her fellow Lieutenants. "I'd rather not be. I don't see how we don't take casualties. Has anyone here seen a casualty report?"

All 4 men shook their head. "I asked Captain Fall for one the other day and he said he didn't have one," Smith replied.

Everyone looked at Smith and then Kelsey. "That's fucking bullshit. I have a higher clearance than him. If he won't give me one right now, I'll find a way to get one. And remind him that I have a dual MOS of intelligence," Kelsey said. She wasn't saying it to one up the boys, and they knew it, she was going to use it as a way to get what she needed.

Briggs spotted Captain Fall walking towards them for their first meeting since being in Afghanistan. "Buckle up boys and girl."

* * *

Clay was in Bravo's team room when his phone buzzed. Knowing it could be Kelsey, letting him know that she was "safe" in Afghanistan, he always checked for message lately. He had attempted to reach out to her husband but Patrick had just came back from outside the wire on a mission and he said he hadn't seen any correspondence from his wife. Clay did get the location of Patrick though- the southeast corner of Afghanistan, at a FOB base there although at the time of the email, he was sitting at Kandahar Airfield. SEALs didn't usually run into Recon Marines although a part of Clay wondered if he would run into Patrick in country. The last time Bravo had spun up, they went to Afghanistan.

 **From: Ash Spencer  
** **Message: Need to talk; about Kelsey. Meet at Bulkhead in 20 mins?**

Well that certainly peaked Clay's interest. Definitely peaked Clay's interest. Besides the original meeting when Ash told him about Kelsey- he hadn't seen his father since and Ash certainly hadn't been asking about Kelsey. And she hadn't mentioned hearing from their father. And Clay knew she would mention Ash if there was any sort of communication between the two of them. That shit didn't stay secret between them.

Clay replied he'd be there and then turned to Sonny. "Hey, if I don't come back from lunch, send out a search party."

Sonny raised his eyebrows. "Where exactly are you going?"

"I'll tell you later. But just be aware."

Clay was there first and ordered just a soda. He was on the clock, he didn't need to be caught drinking at a bar at lunch time. He saw Ash come in and prepared him for the onslaught of his father. "You finally interested in your daughter?"

"I've been trying to get ahold of her but she's not returning my calls or texts. Keeps going straight to voicemail and now her voicemail is full," Ash said as he sat down.

Clay nodded. Well, that was interesting. Obviously he wasn't that well in the loop that she was deployed. "I don't know where Kelsey is," he answered honestly.

"But you do know why she isn't answering her phone?"

"No," Clay replied. She should have open communication by now at wherever she was- unless she was sent to a very remote outpost but he doubted that would happen. The US typically didn't put infantry units there and while Afghanistan was heating up again, the US didn't want to publicize that.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Where is my daughter?"

Clay shrugged. "I don't know, Ash. I truly don't."

"Will she be checking her voicemail in the near future?"

He thought about that answer. It was bordering on the truth though; nobody left Kelsey voicemails. She didn't check them. It said on her voicemail itself- hang up and text me. "Probably not."

"How long will she be out of country?"

Clay shrugged again. "That I also don't know." Kelsey herself didn't even have a come home date- due to operational security or OPSEC.

"Maybe her husband knows."

Clay didn't flinch. "So you do know some things? Wanted to berate her for not inviting you to the wedding, huh?"

Ash rubbed his eyes. "I called her mother a week ago. She let it slip that Kelsey had gotten married."

Kelsey's older brother snorted a little. "Leah Wellington just doesn't let things slip. She told you that on purpose." He had a long standing suspicion that Leah, Kelsey's mom, wasn't completely a banker or work in the financial industry and didn't travel around the world on business- it was a CIA cover. He would never be able to prove that though and he hadn't shared his suspicions with anybody either.

Ash wasn't too happy at Clay's statement on Kelsey's mom. "I can't believe I didn't get to walk my little girl down the aisle."

Clay started laughing. "Wow, Ash. Just wow. She's not your little girl. And second of all, if anybody was walking her down the aisle it was the Master Sergeant. Jon has been a hell of a dad to her and to me than you'll ever be. Third, she basically decided the one weekend that Carley had free and Patrick had leave, that we were all going down to Beaufort and they were getting married. Neither Patrick's parents or Leah or Jon were there so fucking shove it." He wouldn't drop the fact that Patrick Shanahan's dad was former Army Colonel Dan Shanahan, because Ash probably had met him while Dan was in Delta Force and those two probably wouldn't see eye to eye and Ash hated politicians, which Dan was now.

"She just decided to get married?"

"Yeah. She called me and said she was on her way with Patrick to get a marriage license and that her best friend and Patrick's sister were flying in. We had a wonderful weekend in South Carolina."

Ash took a sip of his beer. "And you didn't stop her?"

"Why would I? I like her husband. He's a good guy. For having daddy issues, she did not bad."

That struck a nerve with Ash. His eyes glowed red as he glared at his son. "You may not like me but I deserve every right to speak to my daughter."

"Nope. Why do you want to speak to Kelsey anyways?"

"I don't have to have a reason," Ash replied.

Clay shrugged and put a bill on the counter to cover the soda. He knew that Kelsey's birthday was next week so Ash was probably trying to make his once a year amends that he usually did for her birthday. "Do me a favor, don't try. Leave her alone. You've left her alone for almost 23 years."

"She's my daughter, Clay."

Clay turned back to his father. "Only by blood," and with that he turned around and walked away from Ash and left the bar. He wouldn't utter a word about this to his sister but his next text was to her mother, letting her know about this conversation. Leah would definitely be interested in what just had transpired. And with a little luck, Ash would be getting a very angry phone call from Leah Wellington and Clay would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

* * *

Kelsey sat in her "office", the only Lieutenant on duty that night. The meeting of the officers did not go well. Captain Fall had provided them no relevant information and basically left it up to the 5 Lieutenants to sink or swim and muddle their way through being dropped in a war zone. Kelsey and Lt. MacKenzie were the most outspoken of how bullshit this all was. And they still hadn't seen an expected casualty report.

She was trying to come up with up with out of the box ways on how to get her hands on that report. Going around him on base would mean that Fall knew she was going around his back. She didn't want that yet. How the hell was she going to get her hands on that bloody report? She needed it. Intelligence hadn't completely set up in Khost and she didn't have a good relationship with those guys over there to have them to things under the radar, like slip her the report without Fall knowing. Fall would have to know. But did the report even exist at this point? That was her next question.

She looked around to make sure no one else was listening before slipping on some headphones and putting them into her phone. The WiFi was beyond shitty out here but it was also the middle of the night so not as many people were on it. She scrolled through her contact list and clicked on FaceTime once she hit Lisa Davis' contact. She smiled at the fact that her and Lisa were now the same rank- Ensign Lisa Davis- and she could hangout with her all she wanted without the Navy or the Marine Corps dictating it.

Lisa accepted the FaceTime right away and she was in uniform and her smiling face appeared on the screen. "Middle of the night phone call from?"

"The suck," Kelsey replied. "Duty," she explained for why she was up at 02 00.

"Is this your first FaceTime since being in the suck? If so, I feel very honored but your brother might have something to say about it," Lisa joked.

Kelsey smiled. "It is. Sent my husband an email but I don't know where he is. We wind up in the same time zone but still can't talk. I'm not calling you to chat though, it's a work call."

Lisa, even though she was in Virginia, appeared concerned automatically. The boys had told her about Fall and Kelsey's toxic chain of command but not much else when she returned from OCS. They were great gossipers but really didn't share the relevant details she would like and it was hard getting it out of them. She barely found out that Kelsey had got married; that piece came from Blackburn. "I don't exactly know what I can help you out with."

"You're very resourceful and you've time more time than me here. I need a report. My commanding officer thinks the report isn't needed. However, all of my fellow Lieutenants and I are in agreement that we need the report to do our jobs."

Lisa's eyes went open. That was something she could advise Kelsey on. "Does such report even exist?"

"Well either the US government has buried such report because it is damning or my commanding officer doesn't want to hand it over."

Davis was starting to put the pieces together about what report this could be. There was only a couple report's out there that an Infantry Lieutenant would need to do their job and only a couple that the US government wouldn't want unearthed or leaked to the public. "You have a JAG on base yet?"

"Yeah, I met him. He seems okay and competent."

"Hypothetically speaking, of course, if this is what I think it is, he should be able to help you out. No doubt he's seen it or has access to it. He's going to be advising you on legalities and troop depletion, while not in legal framework terms might not fall under his jurisdiction, it might weigh in the back of his mind when making a recommendation."

Kelsey nodded. That was extremely enlightening what Davis just said and made complete sense; she just wished she thought of it earlier. "You've been very helpful, Ensign. Very helpful. By the way, I am deployed to the province rhyming with ghost. Feel free to share that with the relevant people who have the security clearance."

Davis half smiled. "Your brother will be thrilled. Go see JAG in the morning about that purely hypothetical report."

"I will. Thanks Davis."

"No problem. Watch your six. Stay safe."

"You as well."

Kelsey got chow the next morning, which was categorized as only as disgusting, before moving onto JAG Captain Jonah Marshall's "office." As she had been up all night, she was exhausted but she had tried every other resource she could without alerting her CO what she was up to and there was no way of getting her hands on that report without going to see Captain Marshall, and plead her case out.

She wasn't waiting long when Captain Marshall came into his office. She stood when he entered and when he rolled his eyes and motioned for her to sit, she got the feeling, he wasn't big on formality. "Sir," she began.

"First, I want to know if I need to get another lawyer in here to head up your defense? I mean, for fucking Christ's sake, we are in day 5 of a good God knows how long deployment and you are in my fucking office at 07 00. I'm sure whatever AOR we fall into would love to send another lawyer to a warzone," Marshall started saying.

Kelsey could only blink. She was used to the swearing, she herself as a Marine had a potty mouth, but something about the language coming from a lawyer made her pause. "I haven't done anything yet."

Marshall looked at her, leaned back in his chair and then sized the Infantry Lieutenant up again. "Well the simple fact that you are in here before you need a defense team tells me you are somewhat smart and maybe actually competent. Why are you here Vanderhoek?"

"Well I have a problem. I, as a platoon leader, well I think I have a right and a need to know how many casualties we may expect to lose while deployed. Something I might need before going out on patrol in a hostile area," Kelsey said. She was monitoring Marshall's facial expressions and so far he was buying it, albeit with still a smirk on his face that probably was always plastered on. "And I don't have that report. I've asked for it. So either the powers that be have buried it so far or my commanding officer…"

Captain Marshall cut her off. "You don't need to finish that sentence. I get the point. Who has all asked for the fucking report?"

"The XO has asked for it twice, Lt. Briggs asked for it before we deployed, I asked for it in a meeting yesterday, Lt. MacKenzie backed up the request and my CO says he doesn't have it. So my question and my reasoning for being here, is, as a platoon leader of an Infantry unit, have a legal right to see the expected casualty report?"

Marshall narrowed his eyes at her. "Why do I have a feeling your ass cheeks are going to be making a permanent indentation on my fucking chair by the end of this deployment? And God help when you be a company commander."

She shrugged. "I'm guessing that's your way of saying I have the legal right to know what's in the report."

"Do you want the report?"

"Do I want to be in this hellhole called Afghanistan? Please, sir, give me the report."

The JAG lawyer rolled his eyes at her. "I'll email it to you and even CC in your fellow Lieutenants so they know where it came from and you don't even have to explain yourself."

She smiled, her best smile. "Awe, thanks. That was easy. I'm going to get some sleep now."

Marshall's smirk disappeared off his face. "Not so fast, Vanderhoek. I need to know some things."

"I don't think I like where this line of questioning is going," she replied, letting the lawyer know that this conversation was completely voluntary and she was about to up and leave right then and there. "At all."

He folded his hands on his desk and sighed. "Why is your officer jacket sealed by NCIS?"

"Why is JAG looking at my officer jacket?"

Captain Marshall decided to let her tone and insubordination slip. After all, he was on a fishing expedition. "I need to know."

"You play ball with me, I'll play ball in return. Otherwise, you can call NCIS Agent Eddie Bell. He's a little bit of a jackass so have fun with that. I do hear he's due for a rotation over here in the sandbox so if you have to work with him, have even more fun."

"Vanderhoek," Marshall warned. "Your tone is not appreciated. I know Agent Bell, and I know he's a fucking prick so why would I waste my breath with him when I can find out the answers from the Marine who's file is sealed and marked classified? What the fuck have you done, Marine?"

"Call Agent Bell."

"I will start going through the UCMJ on what to charge you with," Marshall threatened.

"You could, but you're bluffing," Kelsey shot back. "Because then you would have to fess up on who ordered you to find out information that doesn't pertain to you. I'm not in your chain of command, Captain! I came to you as a courtesy and it seems to me that you've been wanting to talk to me for awhile so I'm thinking this came from the top. And fucking throw the book at me for my insubordination right now, but evidently my own chain of command lacks the balls to come out and ask me to my face and instead asks JAG to poke around."

Marshall leaned back in his chair and studied the 2nd Lieutenant. She'd have to watch her mouth because he knew from her little outburst that it would get her in trouble eventually. He wouldn't do anything about it because he was purposely trying to goad her into saying something and pushing her buttons. Marshall was impressed- most people would have cracked with the threat from the lawyer on charging them. "You have outside defense counsel lined up, don't you?" That wasn't a bluff. She wouldn't have said what she said if she wasn't sure she could weasel her way out of it.

"Yes. I've had duty all night, I'd really like to FaceTime my brother, despite the fact that I'd wake him up so quid pro quo."

"What's the deal?"

"I'll tell you, but it has to be protected under attorney client privilege and when Lt. Colonel Downs comes asking on why he can't access his female Lieutenant's officer jacket, you shut up. Only deal."

Marshall looked at her. "You're not my client and this is military law."

"Then I am going to go get some sleep and you can call Agent Bell and deal with him being a fucking prick, as you say."

Captain Marshall just felt like he just lost his first court case in a courtroom, this time he was up against a rookie 2nd Lieutenant. "Okay. Deal. What you tell me stays in confidence and does not leave this room."

"My biological father is Ash Spencer."

Marshall laughed. "You couldn't have led off with that? Because this is starting to make a lot more sense."

"You think I want the whole Marine Corps to know I'm the daughter of a frogman who is considered persona non grata for writing two best selling books and leaking state secrets, basically? Fuck no. I'm under investigation by NCIS."

"For leaking?"

"Yes. Same with my brother, Petty Officer Second Class Clay Spencer, DEVGRU."

"Did you leak?"

Kelsey looked at him. "I don't have secrets to leak. Well, I guess I do now that I'm here but I didn't leak. NCIS opened the investigation into me and my brother, cleared both of us of any wrongdoing but left the cases open in case of any further leaks. With who I am, my family and the powers that be are worried that my father will leak that information to further his agenda. Having a daughter who's a female Marine Infantry Officer who is now deployed in a hostile area of Afghanistan will get him back in the good graces."

Marshall nodded. That was definitely something she wouldn't want getting out. "So NCIS classified your jacket so that there is a log of who has access to it?"

"Correct. My father would have to have some serious pull or hacking skills to find out where I am or what unit I am assigned to. Or even the fact that I graduated IOC."

"How do you still have top secret security clearance if you've been suspected of leaking or being at the center of a leaking investigation?"

Kelsey shrugged. It was a million dollar question of hers, she suspected it was partly due to the sway that her father-in-law had on the hill. "I guess you can ask the same question of how my brother is still a Tier 1 operator with a leak investigation to his name."

"Go get some sleep, Lieutenant."

"Thanks," she said as she rose. "I like you and I respect you as an officer. You can tell Agent Bell that I said it's okay for you to have access to the officer jacket. He might say some things but he will give you clearance to access it."

Marshall sighed. "Thanks, Vanderhoek. As a warning shot across the fucking bow, keep your head down. While I may appreciate the tone and candor you had in this conversation with me today, that insubordination will not get you anywhere besides this office. You will not get through this deployment with your career unscathed."

Kelsey looked at the lawyer. "They don't want me here."

"Not at all. So when Captain Fall NJP's you or files a reprimand on you to derail your career, come to me first. I will deal with it the best I can."

"I appreciate that," she said as she walked out. When Marshall told her that he was going to email her the report, she felt like a weight got lifted from her shoulders. Now she had told someone in Afghanistan about the leak investigation and a lawyer had just warned her that she would not make it back from Khost without her chain of command trying to jam her up, that weight just came crashing down on her shoulders.

* * *

Once she was safely inside her container of a home that she shared with two other female Lieutenants- one a doctor and the other was in Logistics. They had a small shared living area space that thankfully had a TV in it and then they cornered off their own areas with sheets and blankets for beds and personal space. It wasn't much but it was better than the enlisted got and they only had three in the space compared to the 5 or 6 the male Lieutenants had to share the space with. Both of the girls had gone to their duty stations for the day so that left her to sleep, thankfully.

She quickly calculated the time zones and it was 11 pm or zone in Virginia Beach and even if Clay wasn't asleep, she should give him the heads up about Agent Bell poking around about the leak investigation.

Clay had definitely been asleep but he didn't care when he saw his sister's face. "Wow, you look like shit."

"Thanks. This place will do that to you. Just got off duty all night and then had to go see JAG," Kelsey smirked at him.

"I was a little mad when Lisa said she talked to you first but I suppose I'll let it slide. How is it going?"

"Can I resign my commission and come home yet?"

He sighed. "Nope. I know you and you didn't wake me up just to chat, so what's up sis? Spill the tea."

"Did you just use the words 'spill the tea'?"

He chuckled. "I guess I did."

"Some questions got raised today about the leak investigation. Wanted to give you the heads up."

Clay sighed. "Thanks. I'm sure he'll be poking around. What a fucking prick Agent Bell is."

"Exact words Captain Marshall used to describe Agent Bell."

Clay sighed. "I'll let you get some sleep. Thanks for facetiming me. Love you lots and stay safe."

"Love you too and sorry Sloane for waking you up," she could hear Sloane rolling around in the background on the FaceTime and still internally laughed at the fact that one of her decent friends was now dating her brother. "And if you talk to my husband before I do, tell him I love him."

And then there was a loud knock on her container door. Clay raised his eyebrows. "Who the fuck would be banging on your door?"

"Nothing good is coming of this, I can guarantee you that," Kelsey replied. "Love you."

She stood up and opened the door, gun in hand to see a fellow Lieutenant from Charlie Company and Lt. MacKenzie standing at her door. Well, at least it wasn't the MP's. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?"

MacKenzie shook his head. "Not at all. Sorry, Kels. I tried."

* * *

 **AN: This chapter is kinda just setting up the challenges she's gonna have in Afghanistan- aka nobody wanting her to succeed! And for those of you wondering- she will fall flat on her face. Bravo will have to bail her out. Captain Marshall won't be able to help her out legally.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

Lt. Joe MacKenzie and the XO from Charlie Company, 1st Lt. Jose Aguillar looked at her. "Get dressed," Lt. Aguillar said.

She raised an eyebrow. He may out rank her on paper but usually Lieutenants knew they were all on the same playing field and didn't really bother with rank, too much. "Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on?"

MacKenzie scratched the bottom of his head while Kelsey leaned against the doorframe of her container, pistol still in hand. She had her cammie bottoms on but had taken off her boots and blouse, just leaving her green undershirt on. She slept basically in PT gear over here, as did her roommates. They were in a hostile area so they never knew when bombs or rockets might hit the compound. "Charlie Company needs you on a patrol."

"Like hell they do," Kelsey said.

"We need you as a FET," Aguillar said. FET stood for Female Engagement Team.

Kelsey looked at Aguillar and then MacKenzie, wide eyed. "A one woman FET. Are you guys out of your fucking minds? No."

"This isn't a request," MacKenzie sighed.

To his benefit, Aguillar did look a little sheepish. "We came across a local village yesterday on a patrol. They had some females and the local elder didn't like us being there."

"So you want a female. I don't speak the language, Aguillar."

"Fall said you did," Aguillar replied.

Kelsey sighed. "This really isn't an ask, is it?"

Aguillar shook his head. "Fall and my Captain think it's a good idea. Even if you apparently can't speak Pashto."

"So to re-iterate, you want me to go out on a patrol, because I'm female, after being on duty all night, supposedly because I speak Pashto when I really don't? Am I getting the broad picture here?" Kelsey asked.

"Yes," Aguillar replied.

Lt. Austin Briggs ran up to her compound. "What's taking so long here? And what's with the gun?"

"Wouldn't you answer your door with your gun in your hand when you thought you were going to be sleeping after duty all night and the two people who have access to this room have keys?" Kelsey shot back at Briggs.

Briggs replied. "Reasonable assumption. First question then."

"Explaining to Lt. Aguillar that I don't speak Pashto."

Aguillar turned to Briggs. "Captain Fall said she did." He was now getting the sense that while Lt. Vanderhoek could probably take care of herself, her fellow Lieutenants kept a close eye on her. He volunteered to go get her himself but MacKenzie said absolutely not. Now Briggs was there as well. Vanderhoek was not to be messed with and he would make sure his men knew that. Again, she could take care of herself but she had the full force of her Lieutenants behind her.

"I have three requests before I go fulfill these absolutely fucking bullshit orders. Aguillar, go find me a fucking goddamn translator we can trust on this base. Again, I don't speak Pashto. I can speak a couple other Middle East languages, not Pashto. MacKenzie, find me some energy drinks. 5 hour ones, Red Bulls, Monsters, I don't care. I'm going to need them. Briggs, go find me Corporal Luis Rodriguez. I'm not doing with Charlie Company without one of my own men."

Aguillar and MacKenzie got their marching orders but Briggs remained on the small porch of the container while Kelsey grabbed her blouse and began lacing up her boots. "Why Rodriguez?"

"Have a good feeling about him."

"I got the report in my email so obviously you had a good meeting with JAG this morning."

Kelsey looked up at Briggs while she was still lacing up her boots. "Captain Marshall is a friendly. We can trust him. He's on our side."

"On our side about what?"

"About me being here."

Briggs sighed and ran his hand over his mouth. "For the record, I think this is absolute bullshit and we all tried to tell Fall that you didn't speak Pashto so essentially your useless for what Charlie Company wants you for than the fact you have boobs and a vagina."

Kelsey smiled at that last comment, which is what Briggs was aiming for. "He wants my ass fragged and if it happens to be in the Afghani countryside, well what's one less female Lieutenant to him," she retorted.

Briggs looked at Kelsey. "Again, for the record, I think this is stupid. I'll go get Rodriguez and make sure he doesn't let you out of his damn sight, even to take a fucking piss."

Briggs found Corporal Rodriguez with Kelsey's Gunnery Sergeant, Lucas McLeod. Briggs laughed every time he saw Kelsey and the Gunny together. Kelsey wasn't short, at 5'8'' but McLeod was tall at 6'5''. And to him the mental picture of this petite blonde female Lieutenant next to her extra tall, African American, ex college football linebacker Gunnery Sergeant was a great one.

The two enlisted immediately stood up and saluted Briggs which he quickly saluted back. "Rodriguez, you're up. Shit just got real. Gear up, full battle rattle as they would say."

Corporal Luis Rodriguez looked at Briggs. "We didn't get a morning brief saying we were going on patrol."

Briggs shrugged and turned to McLeod, who was snickering. "Smart kid. Except for you are going on patrol with Charlie Company and your Lieutenant. She asked for you directly."

McLeod whistled. "Rodriguez! Look at you."

Briggs laughed. "Also sucks for you because she's raging mad about going, she had duty all last night, she spent the morning at JAG and hasn't slept since God knows when."

McLeod grimaced. "When my wife gets like that, I leave the house. So good luck Rodriguez. I'm going to go harass some other Corporals about making sure their weapon is cleaned because apparently one never knows when you might go out on patrol over here."

Rodriguez was making his way to where all the gear was stored and Briggs was following him as he was going to light him up and make sure he understood his directions to not leave Kelsey out of his sight. "Anything you want to say, sir?"

"Yeah, why'd Lieutenant Vanderhoek pick you?"

Rodriguez shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because I actually respect her?"

"So you don't have a problem with her being over here?"

The young Corporal laughed. "No. Absolutely not, sir. Some other guys might, not me. She earned her way here. She went through the same shit you did."

"And more," Briggs said. "She has a dual MOS of Intelligence if she hasn't told you that."

"No, she hasn't. I trust her as a leader."

Briggs crossed his arm and looked at the young Marine. "Good. Because you are to not let her out of your sight while on patrol, you understand. You take a piss, your eye is still on here. No matter what Aguillar or Charlie Company tries to tell you, do not let her out of your sight. She can handle herself, but you stay by her side."

Rodriguez holstered his pistol. "Are you expecting problems?"

"Always expect problems, kid."

* * *

Clay woke up the next morning and surprisingly the bed was empty beside him. Sloane was not really a morning person, always preferring to workout at nights or go on runs at night. It took awhile for Clay to get used to, as he was trained to be a morning person in the Navy and he couldn't get over the fact that someone who did come from an Army background wasn't a morning person.

He checked his cell phone and was a little surprised to not see a text from his sister and filed that as odd in his brain. He was certainly surprised about the late night phone call but wouldn't turn a call from her down, 11 pm or anything. Sloane would say the same thing. He also wouldn't turn a call down from Patrick, wherever Kelsey's husband may be.

Finally he got out of bed and made his way into the kitchen in just his boxers where he found his 'girlfriend' in the kitchen, making a smoothie, eggs, bacon and toast. "Who are you and what have you done with Stephanie Sloane?"

Sloane turned to face him and gave him a full cup of coffee. "Very funny. Some days I like to get up and surprise you."

"Steph, it's a Wednesday," he said. He rarely called her by her first name, as did anyone. It was always Sloane. Kelsey even rarely called Sloane by Stephanie or Steph and Sloane admitted her parents rarely called her by her first name, it was usually the nickname she got growing up- Scooch.

She smiled back. "I am aware."

"God, you're beautiful," Clay said, as he wrapped her in an embrace. Just as he was right about Patrick, not that Kelsey would ever admit that to him, his little sister was right about pursuing a relationship with Sloane. After finishing physio, he was interested in her but he also looked at her as Kelsey's friend until Kelsey gave him the push to fully ask Sloane on a date. Sloane's response was more or less- what took you so long?

They ate breakfast quickly before Clay's phone buzzed with a text message. They both knew what that meant. He almost started to apologize when Sloane stood up from the table, grabbed her coffee and kissed him. "Don't apologize."

Clay sighed and stood up from the table. He took a second look at it, remembering when Kelsey brought it home. He never had a kitchen table before she decided they needed one. She was right, like most times. "I'm not supposed to be spun up. So hopefully this is going to be quick." Bravo was on stand-down for two weeks, or supposedly so.

"It's your job," Sloane smiled at him as she put things away. "You're always on. Go get dressed and go to base. I got things here."

Clay got dressed and grabbed his things and gave her a kiss before leaving. "I'll try and text if it's a long spin up or not."

"Stay safe," she said as she left.

Clay wondered why they were being called in but quickly got the memo once why were all in the secure briefing room. All of Bravo exchanged looks of surprise but they knew it had to be big of why their asses were in a secure room being briefed on a potential op when they were supposed to be stood down.

Mandy entered the room and put a picture of a woman and a man on a picture. Immediately Clay and Sonny exchanged a glance and then look at Mandy for clarification. "Some of you may know who the woman is on the picture. Some of you may not."

Jason looked at Mandy and then looked at Clay. "This isn't going to be good, is it?"

"Meet CIA Officer Leah Vanderhoek and Mossad Officer Kaleb Dahan. They've gone missing. Some of you may know Leah as Leah Wellington and Kelsey's mom."

All heads turned to Clay. "You knew she was CIA?" Ray asked.

He shrugged. "Had my suspicions. Never shared them with anyone." His suspicions started with how well Leah kept track of him and his grandparents overseas. Not even Ash knew where they were when he was growing, but Leah always did.

Sonny also shrugged. "I asked her if she was CIA or DIA when she showed up at Clay's hospital bed when I had no idea who the fuck she was and she did a very good job at deflecting."

Jason sighed. This was a clusterfuck. He turned to Mandy. "Mossad's pissed aren't they?"

"Beyond. Last known location for them is Rio. Kaleb was on loan, so to speak, for a task force and working with Leah for the past three years. Obviously we all know what their cover was- bankers. They've done a great job, they've had no threats, no sense of hostilities. Everything was going great."

"How long have they been missing?" Sonny asked.

Mandy grimaced. "Six hours."

Trent raised an eyebrow. "We're raising Tier 1 operator alarm bells at six hours missing? They could be lost for all we know. We've all been to Rio. It's a clusterfuck of a city."

"Do you really think a very experienced CIA Officer and a Mossad Operative get lost?" Blackburn asked. "However, I share the sentiments at the jumpiness."

"Officer Dahan sent an encrypted text with a last known location to his Mossad handlers and Langley that said L + 911. That sort of message doesn't get sent without some serious shit happening," Mandy explained and defended. "Local contacts went to the location and turned up nothing."

"So what are we supposed to do," Jason asked. "Sit in Brazil until the CIA sends us in? 6 hours is not a lot to go in. I agree that means they are in danger but I think the CIA would be better off getting them out themselves. And why not Mossad?"

"Israeli's have been told to stand down," Blackburn said.

"That's going to last long," Ray spat out. "I can't see them sitting on their asses waiting for us to pull out a Mossad Officer out of Brazil. No fucking way."

Jason turned to Clay. "Kels know her mom is CIA?"

"Not that she has shared with me. I'm sure she might have her suspicions but the people closest to you also don't want to believe those suspicions so she probably doesn't have her eyes wide open and objective unlike if it was someone else she wasn't close with," Clay explained. "I honestly, have no idea."

Ray looked at Mandy. "What's the CIA's policy on telling family members that they are missing."

Mandy sighed. "In this case- to not."

* * *

Kelsey returned from her patrol with Charlie Company, bleeding, exhausted and even more pissed off than when she left. Thankfully it was only a six hour patrol but she was mad. Thankfully Corporal Rodriguez dealt with her horrible mood very well and the death glares she kept sending Lt. Aguillar. They had gone to a local village and the local elders were very thankful for a woman in the presence. They found it hard to believe, even after the Americans had been in Afghanistan for so long, that a woman would be in full uniform with a bunch of men, carrying multiple weapons. They did allow the women to talk to her with the help of a translator and she was able to get some intelligence from them, but not much.

Briggs and her Gunny, McLeod, were waiting for her and Rodriguez. They both raised an eyebrow at her appearance. Corporal Rodriguez sighed and turned to Gunny McLeod. "I told her she needed stitches but maybe she'll listen to one of you."

Gunny McLeod rolled his eyes. "You deserve a head slap for talking to her and me that way but you speak the truth."

Briggs got off the table he was sitting on and walked over to Kelsey who was just walking into the Quonset hut that was their building. "Looks like the Corporal is right. Can I take a look?"

Kelsey raised her shirt blouse to show the cut on her side. "Fine."

"How about to take off your vest and then I'm going to walk your ass over to medical. I'm sure your roommate with be thrilled to death to see you," Briggs replied. Her one roommate, Navy Lt. Brittany Howell, was one of the only drs on base. Her other roommate, Lt. Dani Pierce was the Logistics Officer over here.

"I'm fine, Austin," she said, quietly, so that only he could hear, as he lifted her shirt to look at the wound.

He looked at her. "Kelsey," he replied. "Medical."

Knowing she was beat, she silently followed Briggs out to the Medical tent where her roommate gave her a very arched eyebrow when she saw the female Lieutenant, followed by her male counterpart. "Weren't you supposed to be sleeping all day?"

Kelsey looked at Briggs and then back at her new roommate that she was about to share accommodations with for seven months. Technically, Brittany outranked Kelsey and Dani. Normally that didn't happen as far as roommates but they were the only female officers on this whole damn base so far. There was talk about a female Lt. Colonel coming in but she would get her own room if she came to Khost. "Yeah, well. You know what they say about best laid fucking plans."

Briggs smiled and then smiled back at Lt. Howell. "In this case, I'd believe her. She really was about to go to sleep when we banged on her door."

"I'm assuming the only reason she is here is because everyone ganged up on her?" Lt. Howell asked as she lifted Kelsey's blouse and undershirt to look at the wound.

"Yes," Kelsey ground out.

Lt. Howell smiled. "Well it's probably a good thing he followed you here because this definitely needs stitches. Shirt off. Briggs, get the fuck out of here." Briggs did as he was told as Howell closed the curtain and Kelsey gingerly removed her shirts.

The doctor was stitching Kelsey's sounds and shaking her head. "I really don't think this is how you want to start off a deployment."

Kelsey looked at Brittany. "This you can fix; at least I'm not in a body bag."

"Somehow, I don't think that was a joke."

Kelsey sighed. "No. Not at all."

Back in her room, she collapsed on the floor in pain, against her bed. She tried facetiming her husband, but he didn't pick up, to no surprise of hers. She stared at the phone for a couple long seconds. She thought about calling her step-dad, he had done his time in the fog of war but she also didn't want to hear Jon's preaching today. Her brother was also not a good option. His emotions would get too hot about the fact that she was sent out on zero hours sleep on a patrol she wasn't supposed to be on and then got "injured." Finally, she hit the FaceTime button for Ray Perry.

In Virginia, Ray was laying in his hammock in his cage, waiting for time to pass by. They were on lockdown. He was able to get a message to Naima that he wasn't coming home anytime soon and Clay sent a message to Sloane, although Sloane had figured that out as soon as he wasn't home by 4 pm. Blackburn came in with a phone in his hand and leaned in to talk to Ray quietly. "Lisa saw your phone going off. Any reason why Kelsey's calling you?"

"I can think of a couple," Ray said.

"Think she knows about her mom?" Blackburn asked.

Ray shook his head. "I doubt it."

"Answer it," Blackburn said.

Ray stood up and took the phone from Blackburn and walked outside the building, in privacy. He re-dialed the FaceTime, hoping he'd get her. She answered.

"Why do you have blood on your face?" Ray immediately asked.

"Million dollar question of the day, Senior Chief."

Ray studied the face in his phone. He could see she was in pain physically, but also mentally. She was struggling. He softened his voice. "How are things there?"

She bit back a sob, not being able to contain the emotions for the day. She was so mad, full of rage, scared and now in pain. She was finally in her 'home' here and could let it show. She also knew Ray wasn't going to judge her if she let a tear or two fall. Kelsey wasn't afraid of crying, she rarely did it though. "I'm scared, Ray. I really am."

"Things aren't getting better?"

"Things are heading in the direction of bad to worse faster than a speeding bullet, as the metaphor would say. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to make it out of this deployment alive."

Ray knew why she was calling. She truly was scared. She would never admit that to her brother, apparently the siblings did keep secrets, but she needed to let that one out. "Is it your own men or your own chain of command?"

She shrugged. "Chain of command. Sent me on a patrol after being up all day, on duty for 12 hours, a meeting with JAG. Patrol was with a different company, not a different platoon, different company. My Captain lied to their Captain and said I would be great to take out as a FET, a one woman FET, to talk to a local village and that lied saying I spoke Pashto. The XO of Charlie Company comes banging on my door just as I'm about to go to bed and tells me it's a direct fucking order. And I end up with stitches in my side that hurt like a bitch actually, out of the deal because their Humvees apparently have metal sticking out of them."

The Senior Chief was silent, not really believing they would put a green Lieutenant, five days into a deployment into that situation. They truly wanted to break her. "They are going to take advantage of the fact you're a woman and make you go out on more patrols and talk to local villages."

"It has crossed my mind," Kelsey replied. It had also crossed her mind that if this was to happen again, she wasn't going without Corporal Rodriguez. Whatever Gunny McLeod or Lt. Briggs told him, he followed his instructions well from them and did not let her out of his sight. And for that fact, she appreciated three Marines who wanted to keep tabs on her, for her protection. "Can I quit and come back home?"

Ray chuckled. "Shoulda got knocked up, then you could have gotten out of deploying."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Kelsey asked. "Too bad my husband is in this same fucking country. Maybe our leaves will overlap. Ray, I don't know what to do. I'm drowning and I'm not even a week into my deployment."

"You keep a journal of everything that happens and the minute Fall puts your life in danger, you go to NCIS and JAG."

"He already did today though, Ray. I can do it and I came back mostly in one piece but sending a Marine out on patrol with zero notice, with a different Company, on zero sleep is asking for trouble. I get this is war and war fucks shit up, I get that, but we don't have artillery raining down on us right now."

Ray sighed. "I'd agree with you."

"My roommate is coming back. Tell Clay I love him."

Ray sighed again, he wouldn't be able to tell Clay that because Clay could not know Kelsey was talking to him right now. And he sighed for the fact she was drowning and yet she still didn't know her own mother was a CIA operative and missing in Brazil. If any talks came up of telling Leah's family, Ray would be pushing hard for not telling them. "Kels, if you need to talk about what's going on, call me, facetime me or smoke signal me at any time. I fully understand that you can't get ahold of your husband right now and this is shit you probably shouldn't be telling Clay. So whatever you need to get off your chest, I promise it will be kept in confidence. I also trust you can find ways to contact me if regular means do not work."

"Thanks Ray, I appreciate it."

"Semper Fi, Lieutenant."

Dani poked her head into the curtain. "Brit told me the day's events and that you weren't really sleeping so I didn't have to be quiet."

"Great, so I don't have to re-hash them," Kelsey smiled at the Logistics Officer.

Dani smiled back. "Let's go grab some chow," she said, handing Kelsey her weapon. They didn't go anywhere on base without one weapon on them. "Can I ask you one question?"

Kelsey raised her eyebrow and fiddled with her wedding ring, which wasn't really her wedding ring. It was one of those cheap ones that she ordered off of Amazon. Her actual engagement and wedding rings were in a drawer in her mom and step-dad's house in California. "Shoot."

"Why didn't you change your last name when you got married?"

Kelsey looked at her roommate and deadpanned. "I didn't want to go through the paperwork."

Dani laughed. "Let's go get some food."

She slowly got up from the floor and followed her roommate out of the 'house' they had. She was thankful for the two roommates she had, they weren't bad, they made her laugh and smile and she was thankful for the Marines that had her six today- Briggs, Gunny McLeod, and Corporal Rodriguez. She didn't know what tomorrow was going to bring but she could smile for the rest of today.

* * *

Back in Virginia, Mandy came into the room where they had all their cages. Clay was the first one to open his eyes. "We got a location on Leah?"

"Sort of. Enough for wheels up in 20. By the way, we aren't really authorized to be in Brazil. If this goes sideways, the US government disavows any knowledge of this operation," Mandy replied. "With that being said, I get that this is basically one of your own's mom and you will do anything to get her back. So please do get Leah Wellington back. Alive."


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: A lovely chapter for your Labor Day Weekend. A little bit of "sensitive subject" matter below so I thought I'd throw that warning out. This happens in real life (my writing is all fiction but this kind of crap has happened to female military members in reality)**

* * *

An hour later, they were on their way to Brazil to rescue the CIA Agent, Leah Vanderhoek, and the Mossad Officer, Kaleb Dahan. Clay somewhat almost smiled at the turn of events. Leave it to his father to have knocked up a former IDF solider who was now a CIA Operative. He highly doubted Ash Spencer knew Leah was a CIA Agent and if he did, that was a secret Clay was very impressed Ash kept. Clay also wondered if Leah's husband, Jon Wellington knew about Leah's real career. Kelsey probably had her suspicions along the lines and was bound to do some digging in her career in the future, but Clay was more curious about Jon, to be honest. The Master Sergeant wasn't dumb. Jon had done time as a combat engineer, then did a tour on the drill field in Parris Island before deciding that he wanted more of a desk job to finish out his 20 and laterally moved to logistics. He was only a year out from retirement and dropping his papers if he wanted to.

Clay was still thinking about how the hell Leah had managed to keep her double life a secret when he noticed everyone had racked out again except Lisa and Mandy. So he got up and talked to them. Mandy was on her laptop, as well as Lisa but Clay knew he could interrupt Lisa. It was also one of Lisa's last mission with Bravo before she got new orders cut for the West Coast. Clay would miss her like hell.

"You ever have problems in your job because you are a woman?" Clay asked Lisa, leaning against the table.

She closed the laptop case. "All the time. Not necessarily with you guys but yeah. Why?"

"My sister. Something she said."

Lisa tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I didn't choose or the Navy didn't chose for me as dangerous of a MOS or be as big of a trailblazer as your sister but I think any woman in the military probably has their fair share of stories."

"She didn't pick an easy one did she?"

Lisa shook her head. "She may not be Kelsey Spencer on paper, but I know who her father is and I can't see Kelsey ever being happy sitting behind a desk being a supply officer or a public affairs officer. And because of that, she's going to be a female officer in a man's job."

"Yeah, a good ole boys club that apparently doesn't like women."

She shrugged. "The Corps has exactly been progressive about putting women in combat positions."

Mandy closed her laptop and joined the conversation. "The Corps definitely hasn't been progressive about putting women into combat roles. They were the last to open them up."

Clay thought about the comment that sister made about her being afraid of getting fragged and then remembered Lisa may be privy to that but Mandy probably wasn't so he was going to shut his mouth. "What your opinion on the Corps putting woman in combat positions?"

Mandy was silent for a minute for speaking. "I think it's going to piss a lot of the old guard mentality off. They don't believe women can do the job."

"You're not telling Leah's family because both Jon and Kels have security clearances, right?" Clay asked.

Mandy sighed. "And Kelsey's is high enough, higher than yours, that she could pull information if she wanted to. I don't think she has the resources or the access needed to while in Khost, however. She is a trained intelligence officer and while she doesn't have the contacts, I will not underestimate her will to get information."

"Is there anything you don't know?" Clay shot back. The only person who knew Kelsey was deployed to Khost Province was Lisa and maybe Blackburn. And Clay highly doubted they were sharing that information with Mandy.

"And I can't yank her security clearance. She'd know. And then get suspicious. Plus I can't yank it over there she needs it to her job; maybe if she was in garrison I'd try. Not to mention, I know who her father in law is and I know how powerful he is and how he can get her information without her needing a security clearance. Dan Shanahan might be a couple years removed from Delta Force but I'm not dumb enough to think he doesn't have some powerful allies within the special ops and intelligence community."

Lisa snickered. "Does Kelsey even like being the daughter in law to a powerful US Senator?"'

"Have you met Dan Shanahan?" Both ladies shook their head. "Politician when he's on duty. I met Dan, the politician, at Patrick and Kelsey's grad from The Basic School where there was very important people around. Around his kids, it's just Dad. Completely different guy. I met Dan, the dad, when he came to visit me at Walter Reed. No photo ops, no press, he just took time out of his busy day to meet me. Patrick and Kelsey weren't even married then and I don't know if she told him to be Dan, the Dad, and not be Dan, the politician, but I highly doubt it. He said it was a special ops guy to a special ops guy visit and it was. Kelsey likes being the daughter in law to a very powerful sitting US Senator only because she's somewhat untouchable. And Dan and his wife, Michelle, are great people in general."

"They can go after her career but they can't completely go after her career. Female officer who's father in law is Dan Shanahan? That's a bad public look for the Corps," Lisa pointed out.

Mandy sighed. "I don't think it matters. It only matters if it ever got leaked, which I have no doubt Dan would do. But they'll torpedo her career and make her unemployable before that ever happens. Mark my words. Or they will try. They will destroy her before her father-in-law can even try and repair the damage."

* * *

Lt. Dani Pierce knocked once on the door the next morning that the 5 Lieutenants of Alpha Company shared. In a rare moment, all 5 were at their desks, reading over paperwork and briefs. She looked a little sheepish but entered anyways.

"I think you are a little lost Pierce," Briggs teased. Dani was the only single female officer on base, as both Kelsey and Brittany Howell were both married, and the male single officers had taken notice. Especially Briggs and he thought it was very useful in the fact his fellow Lieutenant and friend was Dani's roommate. Kelsey did not agree. She was not playing matchmaker, although on paper Briggs and Dani might be good together but she was not condoning starting a relationship on a deployment in Afghanistan.

Dani put some papers on Kelsey's desk. "He belong to you?"

"He's a PFC in my platoon. Why?"

"You might want to read the comments. Every comment. Facebook and Twitter," Dani said, as she sat down in the empty chair beside Kelsey desk and put her boots up on Briggs' desk. He looked at her dismayed.

Kelsey's eyes started to go wide as she read every comment that Private First Class Joe Meah had made on Facebook and Twitter. About her. About Dani. About female Marines. They were sexually explicit to the point of sexual harassment against her and Dani. He basically had the assumption that females had no place in the United States Marine Corps. "Think he's talking about us?'

"Well I think the comment about him saying he wants to rail his hot ass blonde Lieutenant with the banging body sums it up. It's about us."

She was seeing red as she passed the papers to the XO, Lt. Noah Smith. She turned to Dani. "How'd you find this?"

"Someone forwarded me this and asked if I knew who his command was as they knew I was stationed with 1-1 and he made some comments about being stationed with 1-1. Didn't take me long to connect the dots."

While the comments that PFC Meah had made were getting passed around the room and everyone was getting madder by the second, reading them, she was texting Stephanie Sloane in Virginia.

 **To: Steph Sloane  
Did anybody get court martialed in your case? **

**From: Steph Sloane**

 **Fuck no. My ex spread nude photos of me while he was in garrison and I was deployed. Two guys got negative counselling and he got an article 15 which he was a SNCO so it was a slap on the wrist.**

By the time Sloane had finished replying, everyone had read the comments and were fuming mad. All eyes were on Kelsey. "I want to nail this son of a bitch. Like complete court martial."

"Ballsy," MacKenzie said.

"It was on social media," Tan also replied. "Can you really prove it was him?"

She rubbed her face. "I'll take my vote out of it because I obviously know what I'm going to do. And I know it's my ultimate decision as his commanding officer but let's take a vote. Dani, you're in on this too. Vote to article 15 his ass or nail him all the way to the wall for article 32 charges because I'm no lawyer but I can think of a few under the UCMJ I'd like to try him for."

Within seconds everyone had given her the answers. She read them out loud. "Unanimous. Court martial."

Briggs finally said something. "We telling the S-1? Nobody over there is going to be happy about this exposure."

Dani shrugged. "I already stopped by. He said to tell the commanding officer of PFC Meah, which I'm doing. So I don't think we need to. I think all you need to do is go tell JAG, whomever our JAG is."

"Captain Jonah Marshall. We have a great relationship already. And I don't mean that sarcastically, actually."

Lt. Smith held up his hand. "PFC Meah also has posted nude pictures of his ex-girlfriend."

"What!?" Kelsey and Briggs exclaimed at the same time.

"You know that shitty Marine site that was shut down because Marines were posting nude photos of girls all the time? And some pretty horrible comments about female Marines in general? They opened another page. Even worse than the first page. It's posted there."

"Why are you on there?" Dani asked.

Smith looked at her. "What kind of Lieutenant would I be if I wasn't on there, finding out my Marines transgressions like this fucker? I think the ex-girlfriend is a Marine. Looks like they named her as well and even named that she's stationed in Okinawa right now. Lovely."

Kelsey buried her head in her hands. "You don't need to print the picture, okay maybe you do, but just her face, because this is going to JAG before all goes to hell and gets deleted."

Lt. Noah Smith was already on it. "I already thought of that so I printed it fully, unfortunately. The only people that will see it are me, you and Captain Marshall. Let's nail this fucker."

"One too many for her."

"Fucking disgusting is what it is," Dani commented. "Making me run through every guy I've ever sent nudes to in the past."

Kelsey laughed, even though it wasn't humorous at all. "Me too. Very glad I'm married now. Too bad I'm deployed while my husband is also deployed because he sure as shit aint getting any nude photos with our wifi around here."

The laughter was contagious, even though the subject matter at hand was probably not a joking matter.

Lt. Noah Smith stopped the laughing. "You and I need to talk to Top," he said, referring to the nickname that everyone called their 1st Sergeant.

Kelsey paused and looked at the closed door. "He hates me."

"I know."

She swallowed and looked around the room. "Why now talk to our 1st Sergeant? You've been allowing us to use my Gunny as our defacto 1st Sergeant because we all don't like the one we've been assigned and my Gunny has my back and we all know that in this room."

Briggs sighed. "Gunny McLeod is a little bit more of a pragmatist, hence the reason we all like him better. But I get what Noah is saying. You and Noah need to talk to Top. Top is going to be a good barometer of what senior leadership thinks about you going for article 32 charges on Meah. If this goes to an article 32, it will go to a court martial. That's a given."

"Top is old guard," MacKenzie pointed out.

Smith blew out a huge breath. "Your ass is on the line here as his commanding officer and wanting to push for unprecedented charges; we will all back you but its your career and Captain Marshall's. Captain Marshall is going to need a convening authority to approve the charges for an article 32 hearing. Guess who the convening authority is for this base is?"

"Lt. Colonel Downs most likely," Dani said, staying silent until now. "Except public perception would riot if this ever got leaked that nobody did anything and did punish Meah."

Kelsey resigned herself to the fact that everyone was right. "Okay, Noah and I will meet with Top and my Gunny before I go to Captain Marshall. We all on agreement on that?" Everyone was okay with that.

10 minutes later, Gunny MacLeod and Top, a skinny late 40 year old from New York and still had a thick New York accent, were in the office. Kelsey looked at her XO before continuing. "This was brought to my attention this morning. It was written by PFC Joe Meah. We've uncovered other evidence that doesn't need to be shared with you but this is the good parts," Kelsey said. She kept the nude picture of Meah's ex-girlfriend folded and only gave MacLeod and Top the Facebook comments and Twitter comments that were printed to read.

"That's disgusting," MacLeod said when he finished reading it.

"I have a couple more words for it than that," Kelsey replied.

Top crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Certainly enlightening. What's the other evidence."

"He posted nude pictures of his ex-girlfriend, most likely without her consent, named her and named where's she's stationed on a Marine facebook page that shouldn't be allowed," Smith said.

Gunny MacLeod looked like he was going to kill someone and rightfully so. "What are you going to do, sir, ma'am?"

"If I have it my way, court martial the bastard."

Top looked at her. "You can't do that."

"Why not?"

"You'd ruin his career."

"He's a 19 year old PFC, Top. He has no fucking career," Kelsey looked at Smith and then back at the 1st Sergeant. "Any other reasons?"

"What are you going to charge him with? I don't see anything other than being stupid."

Kelsey sighed and flipped through the UCMJ handbook that Smith handed her. "For starters, Article 89, disrespect towards a superior or commissioned officer. Probably 2 counts of that of if you can prove he was talking about Lt. Pierce when he said and I quote "my Lieutenant's roommate is just as hot and I could nail her to the wall as well." Article 92 as he's violating OPSEC rules we laid out by telling people he's stationed at 1-1. People can figure out where we are in Afghanistan. Not cool and one count of Article 134 when he posted his ex-girlfriend's picture without her consent. I'm no lawyer but I think that covers it. Any questions Top?"

Top sighed. "Okay, I get it. He fucked up. But your career is now on the line, Lieutenant."

Kelsey stared at him. "I'm aware, thanks for the advice. Do you have a daughter?"

"I do. She's 11."

"What would you do if you're daughter's ex-boyfriend leaked nude pictures of her online without her consent?"

"It would never happen, so I'm not sure I can answer hypotheticals."

Kelsey was about to blow a gasket. She wished she had Briggs in here to calm her down. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? It would never happen? I never thought my PFC would be telling with world how much he wants to fuck me because I'm so fucking hot. Is that acceptable? I didn't put my body out there but guess what? There's a kid out there detailing how he wants to basically sexually assault me and another female Lieutenant. Also, you believe in consent Top?"

"I do."

"PFC Joe Meah's ex-girlfriend, I can guarantee you, never gave him consent to post those photos. Now her ass is out there for the world to see and other Marines to laugh at. Fucking disgusting. And if we're talking about ruining lives here, I'll tell you a little story and then you can decide who's life you want to ruin. You only have one choice. PFC Meah's or his ex-girlfriend. I would sincerely hope you choose the former because if you don't, you and I are going to have some words on this. I have a really good friend," Kelsey was about to say my brother's girlfriend before she remembered only Briggs knew her secret. "Former Army specialist. She was going to do a full 20 when her life was ruined. She was deployed when her ex-boyfriend leaked nude pictures all over base. It got over to her commanding officers in Afghanistan. How embarrassing. It ruined her fucking career. Done, she had none. She gave no consent for that. Two guys got negative counselling and shockingly enough her ex did get an article 15 but he was a senior NCO at the time, it was a slap on the wrist. So the people that ruined her career skated. How's that. I can probably find a few, a couple dozen more stories, just like that. So yes, I want to ruin PFC Joe Meah's career. I want to make him an example that this is not acceptable behavior."

"Top, the court martial is the right thing to do," Smith said. "We respect your opinions and we did ask you for them but we in no way agree with them."

Top raised his eyebrow. "You agree with her on this?"

Smith laughed and was really started to see Kelsey's dislike for the Alpha's 1st Sergeant. He had it out for her. "Yeah, I do. All of us Lieutenants are in agreement on this. We are going to make an example out of this fucker. End of fucking story."

Top stood up and shook his head. "Sir," he said and walked out.

Smith was about to go ream him out for disrespecting Kelsey on the way out by not giving her the proper greeting but Kelsey stopped him. "I'm going to go see JAG before I lose my nerve. Come on MacLeod, you're with me." At least her Gunny still respected her.

As she stepped outside, she turned to her Gunny. "Know anyone who's a smoker in here? I have a feeling I'm going to start smoking again." Just then they could hear a rocket hit the outer edge of the base. They both turned to each other and grimaced. That was a little too close for their liking. Make that way too close for their liking. It wouldn't have hit anything but there was a burning pit of sand that was now on fire and people running in every direction.

"Guess the Taliban found out we are back in country," Gunny McLeod remarked.

* * *

Over the air, Mandy announced they would be flying low and trying to be low, landing at a private airstrip outside of Rio De Janeiro. They landed in the cover of darkness, not telling the Brazil air authorities much. They were not exactly authorized to be in country so it would be a very hard mission to get in and out undetected.

"I know we have a connection to Leah Wellington, I get that. Kelsey is fucking family. But this is fucking stupid," Jason said. "The CIA should be going after their own operative."

Blackburn rubbed his hand on his mouth. "I get it."

"Better yet, let's let the Israeli's have at it," Sonny exclaimed. "They don't seem to worry about who's borders they operate in."

Clay was torn. On one hand he completely agreed with Jason and Sonny, this mission was ridiculous. No way the CIA should be asking for a Tier 1 team to go rescue a CIA Officer and a Mossad Officer with no intelligence in a country they were no authorized to be in. On the other hand, this was his sister's mom. "I agree, we should have just let Mossad handle it."

Mandy sighed. "Too late. Wheels down in a country we aren't exactly handing a embassy official to expedite our passports," she said sarcastically. The plan was to quickly touchdown, everyone including Mandy, Blackburn and Lisa, to get off the plane, and then find a place to set up shop.

They had a surprise waiting for them on the airfield. "We have someone waiting on the airfield. Not sure if he's a friendly or a hostile," the pilot said.

Everyone was confused but Jason and Clay had their weapons out the door of the of the C-130 Hercules as soon as the pilot's words came over the air. To their absolute and utter shock, it was Mossad Officer Kaleb Dahan waiting for them. They kept their guns trained on him as they prepared to still get off the airplane quickly.

"She's not in Brazil anymore. They took her to Colombia," he said, quickly.

Mandy looked at Kaleb and then at Blackburn, at Clay and then at Kaleb again. "Colombia?!"

"Cartagena," he replied.

"Get in the fucking plane," Mandy said. She closed the door and went to the pilots. "Wheels up. We are going to Colombia."

Clay was about to punch the Mossad Officer. "You just happened to be at the same airport that we were landing?"

"Mossad got me word that a SEAL Team was coming to rescue us. Which I am forever grateful," Kaleb replied, as he took the bottle of water Lisa offered. Everyone sat down as the pilots roared down the runway, barely after they touched down in Brazil.

"Are we allowed to operate in Colombia?" Brock asked, snarkily. Well with the most snark one had ever heard from Brock.

Blackburn sighed. "I'll have to clear it with the higher ups but they will give us a little more rope than the Brazilians."

"That's comforting," Sonny rolled his eyes. They took that as "we still shouldn't be here but if we get into trouble, someone might come rescue us." Unlike with Brazil where if they got into serious shit, they were on their own.

Clay looked at Kaleb. "Back to how you just let your partner get taken to Colombia while you get rescued and a transport out of Brazil?"

Kaleb swallowed hard, knowing the relationship of the man who was interrogating him and his partner. He knew who Clay Spencer was. "Because she told me to leave. She told me to run and get help."

"And you did that?" Jason asked. "That I'm having a hard time understanding?"

The Mossad Officer sighed. "You think I wanted to? She's my superior. Have you disregarded a superior officer?"

"When I thought it was the right decision, like not leaving my partner to die herself, yes," Jason replied, just about punching the Mossad Officer.

"You weren't there."

Ray stepped in. "We weren't. And we won't understand because our motto is no man left behind."

"I'm not leaving her behind," Kaleb replied. "I will get her out. Her last words to me were 'get the fuck out and run. I can't and you can. Run fast and get word out. I don't want two people to die when only one of us has to.' What would you do Master Chief?"

"Wouldn't leave her," Jason shot back.

"Wouldn't have left her," Sonny also replied.

Clay looked away and then back at the Mossad Officer. He did sort of get where the Mossad Officer was thinking but he didn't agree with it. "You better hope we rescue Leah or else you are going to have to explain your justification to her daughter and God help you if you have to."


	12. Chapter 12

The next three weeks went by like a blur. Really like a blur. They had rescued Leah Wellington without too much of an international incident. They had found her in a pretty bad neighbourhood of Medellin, not Cartagena like Kaleb Dahan had originally said, and Mossad was unsurprisingly waiting for them. The surprising thing is that Mossad had waited for the SEALs to get there to grab Leah Wellington. Jason and the rest of Bravo had mixed opinions on that. What mattered, politics aside with Mossad, was that Leah had been pulled from the hell hole she was being tortured in, only Trent had gotten shot, albeit in the vest but he was sporting one hell of a bruise, and a Mossad Officer had suffered a severe concussion. Leah would be fine.

And the CIA and Mossad both agreed that no one was to know about what happened in Brazil or Colombia. It was a cover up. And they would cover it up to the highest they could. That meant Kelsey would never know. Clay had been pulled aside by a briefing from the highest-ranking Mossad person on the ground before they went their separate ways in Colombia and read the riot act for breathing a word about this to anyone. Clay wasn't happy but the fear of an Israeli prison or Mossad in general made him agree to keep his mouth shut. Kelsey would not know for now her mom was a high-level CIA Officer. She would have to figure that one out on her own. And if Kelsey came to him about her suspicions about her mom being CIA or in the intelligence community, Clay decided, he would tell her an abbreviated version of the truth or at least point her in the direction of Mandy Ellis.

For Kelsey, Afghanistan was a never ending nightmare. She finally got to speak to her husband for the first time shortly after she agreed to the article 32 charges against Meah. The convening authority happened to not be Lt. Col Downs, which was great for her and Captain Marshall, but instead Brigadier General Bennett, who was the highest ranking officer of Bagram at the time. The article 32 hearing was short- it was going to a court martial. And the court martial had been set for a week after the article 32 hearing which was quick. And it was dirty. And it attracted press from the US as it was almost an unprecedented court martial as the charges were all to do with social media posts. In the end, Meah was found guilty of all three charges laid against him.

The reaction on base was swift and there were a few people who didn't appreciate Kelsey and Captain Marshall's steadfast and hard approach to kicking Meah out of Afghanistan and straight to Leavenworth. One of them was her own Captain. One night she was walking back to her quarters when she was assaulted by a junior Marine she had never met before. It was one of Meah's buddies, from Transportation. He had cornered her, assaulted her, and attempted to sexually assault her before she fought back. Three punches later, the Lance Corporal was lying in an ICU in Germany for four days. She continued punching him until Lt. Austin Briggs had pulled her off the Lance Corporal. Unfortunately and fortunately for her, there was witnesses.

The MP's immediately wanted to charge her for assault as she had punched the lights out of the Lance Corporal but backed down when the witness, a Warrant Officer who was a helicopter pilot, was on her side and claimed it was self defence. Lt. Austin Briggs was also a witness but the MP's thought he was too biased. He claimed: "damn right, I'm too biased." However, the self defence angle only held up so far. Captain Fall was determined she not get off scot free. She was put before a Captain's Mast and given non judicial punishment- conduct unbecoming of an officer. Punching the lights out of a junior Marine until he was unconscious and had a brain bleed so bad he was in Germany was not acceptable because it was listed as "striking a subordinate." It didn't matter that he was getting retribution for Meah and he hit her first. It didn't matter. That was the Marine Corps stance.

Kelsey was absolutely shocked when she was called into Fall's office and given her official letter of reprimand. She vaguely remembered telling Bravo to make bets on how long it would take her to get an NJP under this command. Turned out it wasn't long. The worst part of this letter of reprimand- it wasn't local. This one would stay in her file forever. A local one would go away when she PCS'd. She immediately went to Captain Marshall, the JAG on base, who was aghast. He said he would do everything in his power to move this to a local. She also immediately called Mickey Crawford, her lawyer in the States. He recommended she write her rebuttal, which she had her legal right to and he would help her with it. In the end, it didn't work. The NJP would stick with her. And it wasn't a local. Her career was fucked before it really began.

She had called Ray and only Ray to let him know that she had been NJP'd. Clay would blow a gasket and then some about how she was NJP'd and she didn't and wouldn't blame her brother for going off the deep end on this. Hell, she didn't even tell her own damn husband. She sent an email to her father-in-law and had him do it and specifically told Dan to leave out what exactly she got reprimanded for. Dan was furious enough. She had gauged Dan's response on whether to tell Clay and given by Dan's reaction, she wasn't about to tell her brother. Dan had enough experience dealing with politics and the Army and knew how it went. If Dan blew up, Clay would explode. Her career was effectively over. Done. She would probably get promoted to 1st Lieutenant, a little later that she expected and would probably make Captain if she bothered to stay in but reprimands like the one Fall gave her would stick. Stick like glue.

Ray's response was a little typical, but he was pretty angry. At first he played it off a little jokingly and said Jason won the bet because Jason had the over and under at 6 weeks and they were at seven weeks since that infamous telling phone call she made from her truck in her mom and stepdad's Oceanside house on her first day at her new command. Ray agreed with her assessment that telling Clay this soon after she got her NJP may not be the best. It may be best to let Sloane tell him. Sloane would be pissed but not over-react. He told her the opposite of what everyone else had been telling her- keep doing what she was doing. Rattle some cages and keep letting people know she was there. Kelsey appreciated the advice from a been there and done that special forces guy. Ray had told her that Jason had gotten one or two reprimand's in his career but he was still kicking. If Jason could overcome it; so could she. Well, that explained why he was wearing a red crow when she saw him last in dress uniform.

One night she thought about that DIA offer the night that Clay had first got to Walter Reed. Of course they'd know about the NJP, but she didn't know if that would elevate her to the big leagues or not. It was sort of a right of passage, if you were enlisted. But she wasn't enlisted and it wasn't a local reprimand and it wasn't for something minor. One thing was for sure, she was not staying in the Corps past her original enlistment. Fuck that. She thought harder about the DIA offer but also decided that with the DIA offer came staying in the Corps. Nope. And she also silently wondered if the Corps knew why female retention was so low. If anyone asked her, she'd be glad to give them an earful and she had been out of the school house and in the fleet for a whole seven weeks, five of them in Afghanistan.

So after a week and a half after the letter of reprimand, Kelsey was beyond mad. She was even more furious when Captain Fall called her into the office with Briggs and Smith, the XO, sitting in chairs.

"Did your daddy get you to Afghanistan this fast? I've been trying to figure out how you got a deployment so fast?" Fall asked. "Or your father-in-law? I know who he is."

Kelsey's jaw dropped and she looked at Briggs. Fuck, Briggs didn't even know who her biological father was, although it wouldn't take him long to put the pieces together if he hadn't already. Briggs wasn't dumb and if he had figured out Ash Spencer was her biological father, he had one hell of a poker face. "Excuse me?"

"Or who's dick did you suck?"

Now Kelsey was aghast at her Captain's insinuation. "Excuse me? Suck dick? I am fucking married."

"Daddy, father-in-law or sucking dick that wasn't your husband's?"

Kelsey looked over at her fellow Lieutenants, who both looked like they were ready to blow a gasket. "I'm not answering that."

"So you did. Non denial denial," Captain Fall said.

"That is so out of line sir," Smith said. "So out of line."

One of the Brigg's Staff Sergeant's had been looking for him and had been standing in the doorway and heard the whole conversation. "Did I just hear what I just heard?"

Briggs looked over at his Staff Sergeant. "Yeah, you just heard Captain Fall insinuate that Lt. Vanderhoek either had her daddy get her this position or in his words 'sucked someone's dick other than her husband's' to get this deployment."

"I am so disgusted with that statement," the Staff Sergeant said. "Last time I heard, Lt. Vanderhoek passed the IOC with every other male Marine."

Briggs nervously laughed, although it wasn't a real laugh. "Glad you are thoroughly disgusted with it and I'm happy you said something. Too bad for Fall's thoughts because I know for a fact that Lt. Vanderhoek hasn't spoken to her biological father in over two years so there went that theory. I'll be with you in a minute, close the door please. I need to deal with this first."

Once the door was closed, Kelsey lit into her commanding officer. "That went beyond inappropriate and into the sexual harassment category. You gave the SHARP briefing before we left; you'd think you would know what sexual harassment is. That was textbook sexual harassment and I'm not okay with that."

Fall shook his head. "It was a joke."

"That went beyond a joke," Smith said. "What you said to her was beyond disgusting, inappropriate, and degrading. Especially to a junior officer. What the fuck has gotten into you? She is a Marine. A female Marine but a Marine."

"We're reporting this sir," Briggs said. "Make our lives living hell, go for it. You've made it perfectly clear you don't want Kelsey here and have no reason for it besides she's a female."

Fall shook his head. "Nothing to say for yourself?"

She shrugged. "I'll have something to say to NCIS."

Fall shook his head. "That's a pretty big bluff to be playing."

"You called me in here before your little theatrics that is about to ruin your career," Kelsey pointed out.

Fall handed her a manila folder. "Need you take a couple guys and check this out."

She looked at him and then Briggs and Smith. "This is a suicide mission. Why are you sending me and two guys to check on a mysterious compound?"

He scoffed. "Relax. You are trained, aren't you?"

"I am. And my training says this is a suicide mission. This is something that we should call some Recon guys in for."

"Like your husband."

Kelsey looked at her commanding officer directly in his eye. "My husband was the furthest thought from my mind. My thought was the safety of my men and me. This is not a mission for Infantry."

"Well it is now. Dismissed."

Smith and Briggs left the room with her and looked at the folder and then at her. "What are you going to do?"

"Quickly pack and take enough for three days. Take a Humvee, I guess."

"Who are you taking with you?" Briggs asked, very concerned. He didn't like this at all either.

She shrugged. "Corporal Rodriguez and I guess Sergeant Bauer. He can drive a Humvee. I need another shooter but I don't know what other one of my guys can do this?" They had legitimately just come back from a four hour hard patrol only two hours prior to this. She had showered, eaten chow and come down to the offices to get this notice.

"I got one. Corporal Keller. He'll be fine taking orders from you," Briggs said. "I don't like this either and I will be making some noise to Intelligence on your behalf about this."

Within the hour, with the help of Smith and Briggs, she sat on a table in front of Bauer, Rodriguez and Keller, who sat in the chairs. "I won't lie to you guys; I don't have a good feeling about this. I don't like this at all. I've tried voicing my opinion about it and I think our XO is in their right now voicing his opinion. Orders are orders."

"Your gut feeling is usually right," Bauer replied.

She was glad that they didn't think she was crazy. "And because of that, I'm ordering you to sanitize your uniforms before we leave base in 20. No rank, no unit patches, no nametags. I'm doing the same. Codeword for the day is cigarettes. Briggs and the Gunny know it and only them."

"Ma'am, how often are we doing check ins?" Keller asked. He got the indication right away that when Briggs had ordered him to report to Lt. Vanderhoek that something was up. And something was definitely up when she ordered sanitization of uniforms. They had been in country for five weeks and had yet to do that. Orders to sanitize uniforms from 2nd Lieutenants didn't just happen on 'routine ops.'. She had to know something was up and given the look on his own Lt's face, he wasn't going to say anything.

"Every 20 minutes. Either by radio or sat phone. We miss a check in, Briggs better be calling the damn SEALs in," she had already told Briggs that he should have that piece of paper close by. She had a horrible sinking feeling about this day. Actually, it started when she opened her eyes. She had told Brittany as she was putting her uniform top on and Brittany just gave her a long hug but didn't say a word. Kelsey hadn't known whether to feel encouraged or discouraged at her roommate's response.

* * *

The first time Clay brought Stephanie Sloane lunch, she was confused. Very confused. Almost accused him of doing something wrong and needing to suck up to her in apology or leading to the preemptive talk of him getting spun up for a long term deployment.

Today was the second time that she had been brought lunch by her 'boyfriend.' They had let to put labels on their relationship, which to all her friends was "weird as fuck" but to them it worked. She did introduce him as her boyfriend to anyone asking because it was weird to introduce him as her friend. He was definitely not her friend and she spent more time at his apartment than her own. Almost enough for the talk of, 'we should just move in together to save on rent' talk." "What do I owe this pleasure to?"

Clay shrugged. "Figured you would want lunch. I know you didn't pack one this morning."

"Very observant of you, Mr. Spencer," Sloane said as she led the way to a park right beside the physiotherapy office she worked at. She had a break in between patients today and then one late cancelled on her so she had an extra long lunch break today. Perfect day for Clay to show up.

"Kind of my job to be," he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "What's today's lunch?"

"Greek food."

She looked at him quizzically. "I ain't gonna complain about this Spencer, but you sure there's not a deployment you are neglecting to tell me about?"

He shook his head as he opened the take out food containers. "Nope."

"I swear to God, I am going to tell your sister about this and see what she says. Something is up because you are not Mr. Romantic."

"I'm not? I just brought you lunch to work!" Clay said.

Sloane gave him a side eye as she opened her food container that he brought her. Greek food was way better than the disgusting sandwich place next door to her work. "Also, why are you in civvies?"

He shrugged. "I like your hair like that."

"It's bringing me Army flashbacks," Sloane replied. It was French braided and she found in her Army days it was quicker and easier to put in a French braid than the standard military bun. Also saved her hair from getting so damaged.

He looked at her knowingly. They had yet to really talk about her Army days. "Do you have a picture of you in uniform?"

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her photos, ones that were not posted to Facebook. She had scrubbed her Facebook clean of all Army memories, save for being friends with a few fellow Soldiers. "Here you are."

Clay whistled. "Never thought I'd say this, but you make the Army uniform look smoking hot."

"Yeah, what's up with that? You don't like the Navy so you find a sister who's a Marine and a girl who's former Army?"

That made him laugh. "Sonny mentioned something like that the first time me met you."

"I hope they don't hold it against me that I know the words to The Army Goes Rolling Along rather than Anchors Aweigh or whatever you Navy boys have."

He put his hand on hers. "Steph, can we talk about what happened at Ft. Bragg?"

Sloane looked at him. "Not over lunch. Your sister knows some of the details, you can ask her."

Clay rolled his eyes. "I'm not calling her in Afghanistan and I'm certainly not hearing it from her. I'm asking you."

"For your information, it didn't really happen at Bragg. It happened while I was fucking deployed."

He was getting somewhere. She hadn't run so that was a starting point. He really hadn't intended on asking her today, he really hadn't. The last time he pushed the Army issue, she pretty much slammed the door closed in his face and left his apartment on a run. "Do you want to go to Brock's for dinner tonight?"

Sloane looked at him with the most confused look on her face. She understood that he was pushing, she gave him something so he was backing off. But that was a hell of a change of topic. "Brock doesn't have people over for BBQ's usually. Is there a new girlfriend in the picture or something?"

Clay shrugged. "I don't know. I think everyone will be there."

"Oh, so this is a we have to show up type of dinner."

"Kind of."

"Is this what lunch was about then?"

"Nope. Everyone loves you. I may have to show up for the dinner, but you most certainly don't have to."

Sloane was more confused as ever because Clay was right. She didn't have to show up tonight, she knew that. She would though. She liked Naima. But why was he bringing her lunch? She decided not dwell on it anymore and take it for what it was. Lunch with Clay. "Okay, well let's go. I'm done my last patient here at 5 so I should be home around 5:15."

"I should be done from the gym with Jason by then."

"What do you guys even do while you are stood down?" Sloane finally asked. "You are dressed in civvies, bringing me lunch, being home by 4 every day. I love it. But I'm strangely weirded out by stood down Clay and kind of want you back on rotation."

He got this goofy smile on his face. "Stephanie Mae Sloane, I love you."

* * *

Kelsey, Corporals Rodriguez and Keller and Sergeant Bauer were two hours and twenty minutes into their three hour drive when they felt their Humvee sputtering. Bauer looked at Kelsey, who was in the passenger seat. He hadn't drove a Humvee in awhile and somewhat complained when Kelsey told him he was driving but quickly got over it when he realized why he was driving- he was on the short list of who she trusted. He'd get over how much he hated driving these fuckers.

"What the fuck is wrong Bauer?"

"Something is wrong. I think its with the fuel," he said. He knew not to ma'am her out here. That was an unspoken rule as soon as they past the guard tower and wire. No sign that she out ranked them.

"We all checked that we had enough fuel to make it there and back," Kelsey said.

Bauer grimaced. "That's why I'm a little worried," he said when the Humvee shuttered to a stop.

"That's just great," Keller muttered.

"If I get under there, I have no idea what I'm looking at. I know trucks, not Humvees," Bauer said. "And we'd all be exposed."

"Two second look to see if it's anything fixable," Kelsey replied.

Bauer climbed under the Humvee, with Kelsey, Rodriguez and Keller all standing guard. Within two seconds he was asking for someone's phone to take pictures and climbed out, gun in hand. "Fuel line has been cut."

"You are fucking kidding me. How did we just run out of fuel now?" Rodriguez asked.

Bauer shrugged. "I don't honestly know. Slow leak."

Kelsey was already on the radio in the Humvee. "Base, this is Alpha-2. Our Humvee has a slow fuel line cut. We have no fuel. Blowing up Humvee and walking back to base or if we can find a village to hole up in for the night. Come rescue us."

"Alpha-2, this is Captain Anderson, Intel. What do you mean no fuel?"

"This is fucking stupid. I just sent the pictures to Briggs. We have no fuel. The fuel line has been deliberately cut. Fucking come find us," she said as she rattled off her coordinates.

Anderson sighed. "Understood, Lieutenant. Continue to checks in with your sat phone every thirty minutes. We will get the coordinates from there."

"Roger that. Check in every 30 mins. Alpha-2 out."

Kelsey turned to the three men. "Rodriguez, you get the honors. Blow the fucker up."

* * *

As it turned out, Sloane was glad she came to the BBQ, because everyone from Bravo, including significant others and children were at Brock's. And she asked- no girlfriend. He just figured it would be nice to have people over at his house, since he actually had a house that he was never actually at, for once while they were stood down. Sloane didn't disagree with the statement. She hadn't hosted everyone over at Clay's place because their apartment was way too small.

Jason, her and Naima were in a heated discussion about whether encouraging kids to get ROTC, NROTC or pushing them to go to military academies was a good thing for educations. Sloane was on the opinion that it was a good way to get an education paid for and serve your country. Naima wasn't too thrilled with that. Jason said he if his kids went that direction, he'd be more than thrilled.

And then Jason's phone rang. He looked at it warily. "Sonny, is this some sort of sick prank you are playing on me? It's an Afghanistan country code."

Sonny answered negatively but Jason answered it. "Hayes," he barked into it.

"Is this Master Chief Jason Hayes, Team Bravo?"

Jason stepped away, onto Brock's patio. "Depends who's asking."

"Lieutenant Austin Briggs; Platoon Bravo, Company A, 1-1 Marines. I got your contact information from Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek."

Jason closed his eyes. He knew exactly what this was. "How much trouble is she in?"

"She's missing."

"How long."

"She missed her last check in an hour and a half ago. She's been abducted."

Jason was about to rally the troops but he reminded himself to breathe. "Information on how you know she's been abducted?"

Briggs sighed. "I'll give you the long version of events because I know you are about to get on the next flight here. She did a 4 hour hard patrol this morning, returned to the wire, had a shower and chow. Came by the offices and Captain Fall had a mission for her. He said some pretty inappropriate things about her to her face which our XO and myself have already reported to the SHARP hotline and to our JAG. She ready the mission outline and told Fall it was a suicide mission and it should be a Recon mission instead. He disagreed and told her orders were orders. I and our XO agreed with her assessment that it was a suicide mission but it was greenlighted by Intel and him. Except, Intel greenlighted it for a Recon mission. This was never passed onto us until she was out of the wire. She took two of her own guys and one of mine, since most of her guys were gassed from the patrol. Two hours into a three hour drive, she ran out of fuel. The fuel line was cut deliberately. They radioed back to base, she told the Intel Captain that she planned to blow up the Humvee, and walk to the nearest village and hole up until someone could rescue her and her guys. She figured the nearest friendly village was 20 clicks from where she was. She continued 30 minute radio checks. And then she didn't make her last one. We had already sent a helo out to get her. The helo went to her last coordinates and they found her Sergeant dead with a bullet to the head, Taliban sniper style. Rodriguez, Keller and her are nowhere to be found."

"We are on our way," Jason said. "I will have my Lt. Commander coordinate with your Intel person on the ground but if she's not found by the time we land, there will be hell to pay."

"That's why I called you, Master Chief."

Blackburn was on the patio door, blocking the incoming curiosity crowd, including Clay and Sloane. He asked the million dollar question as Jason hung up the phone with Briggs. "Where are we going?"

"Khost Province, Afghanistan. To rescue Kelsey."

* * *

 **AN: Who finds Kelsey first. The Marines or Bravo?**


	13. Chapter 13

Jason, Ray, Sonny and Blackburn went inside to inform Trent and Brock of what was happening. Blackburn to make the necessary to calls to greenlight an op to rescue Kelsey and nobody knew if that was even allowed without Kelsey's own chain of command requesting the SEAL team. Mandy was in Langley and Davis was doing homework, she had come by for a bit. She was in the same school that Kelsey had done, however, she had the good fortune of being able to live in her house as Intel School was at Dam Neck.

Clay wrapped his arms around Sloane, as she still held his bottle of beer in her hand. He kissed her long and slow. "You're gorgeous."

"What was that for?"

"Just because."

"Are you mind fucking me right now?"

Clay shrugged, still keeping a firm grasp on Sloane. "And if I want to get my mind off a certain phone call by imagining you naked?"

She just looked up at him and laughed. "Oh Clay."

He kissed her again, passionately. "That was for whatever you were about to say, that I'm probably not going to like."

"Like I said this morning when you brought me lunch, very observant Mr. Spencer."

"Sloane, tell me what's on your mind. The minute Jason said it was Briggs on the phone, something's been up."

"It's not Briggs. When shit down in Afghanistan, part 1, me involved this time, the Major in my unit who I've never really interacted with before until he came down and told me what had happened said something interesting. He was and still is a huge NCIS fan and lives by Gibbs' rules. Rules 36 and 38. If it feels like you are being played, you probably are. Rule 38, if it seems like someone's out to get you, they are. It was sound advice at the time, and it seems like wise advice to pass on now."

Clay didn't let his girlfriend go, instead held her a little more tightly. "You saying that you think there's more to this than meets the eye?"

"Yeah. I don't think you can look at this as just Kelsey's abduction. Not with Fall involved."

Blackburn came onto the deck before Sloane could say anymore. "Plane is coming in from Pensacola, it's already in the air, so everyone's got two hours before they have to be at the base. Spend your time wisely," he narrowed his eyes at Clay and Sloane. "Hopefully get some clean clothes, no time knowing how long this will be. I have not gotten the greenlight yet. Mandy's trying to work her magic but we are granted permission to be in Afghanistan."

After Clay and Sloane had finished getting naked and having their fun, which Sloane somewhat appreciated since she didn't know when Clay was getting back and his commanding officer had pointedly given them two hours. On the other hand she wasn't a huge fan of the fact that sex was a distraction to the two hundred pound elephant in the room about Kelsey. She tried not to think about that and just resigned herself to the fact that they would have been having sex tonight anyways since he brought her lunch and she had wanted to rip his clothes off in the park then and wasn't too happy about having to wait until after Brock's barbeque to do so.

"You know, I kind of wanted to take your clothes off the minute you brought me lunch today," Sloane said, as she put a clean t-shirt on after they had showered together.

Clay smiled as he took another look at her tanned, toned and very fit body. Almost made him want to do another round with her. "Remind me to take lunch to you more often."

She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him gently as she walked out of the room. "I appreciated it."

Clay stood there in their bedroom, jeans on and no shirt as he looked at his girlfriend. She had a pair of his shorts and shirt on and she looked gorgeous. "Sloane, what are you not telling me?"

She turned around and leaned against the doorframe. She bit her lip. "Kelsey got a NJP two weeks ago. And it was a permanent one."

He looked at Sloane. "And you've been sitting on this, why?"

"Orders."

"From who?"

"Your commanding officer."

"You don't take orders from Blackburn."

Sloane raised an eyebrow. "I may not be in the Army anymore, Clay, but I know when orders are orders. Kelsey told me directly. I don't know how Blackburn knew but I got a text from him telling me not to tell you."

"Are they trying to protect me? Because Kelsey freaked at me when I refused to tell her when I got shot and I was just trying to protect her. I'm not really seeing the difference here."

She sighed. "Your sister flipped a fucking lid about that because she has power of attorney over you and your medical decisions and you were two seconds from dying and she didn't know. Not really pot meeting kettle. If it makes you feel any better, I don't even think her own damn husband knows."

That made Clay pause. "Patrick doesn't know?" Kelsey and best friend, Victoria, were close and now Sloane but Kelsey told her husband everything. Absolutely everything. "What did Kelsey get NJP'd with?"

"I'm not at liberty to disclose that, babe."

"That's where your comment came from Rule 36 and Rule 38."

Sloane continued to lean against the doorway. "Speaking of getting things into the open, Leah isn't exactly who she says she is, right? I'm guessing some sort of intelligence agency?"

Clay had been putting a shirt on but also paused when he heard that. He took a few seconds to digest what his girlfriend had just said before fully pulling it over his head. "How did you figure that out?"

"A lot of things weren't adding up but mainly for someone who works in South America and Europe, a trip to Accra, Ghana to check out a bank strikes me as odd. She told me that was her next trip when she visited Kelsey and we all went to get mani's one afternoon. I do know that the US is trying to build a military base in Accra, though. That and the first time Kelsey called you after you got back from the mission you weren't supposed to go on, you asked me to talk to her. Tipped me off that you went to go rescue her mom."

Clay's mouth was almost open. "That was really good."

"Yeah. Since my suspicions are right, I'd be giving Leah a call as soon as I got to base and telling her that she better have her fucking cover story locked down when the Marine Corps CACO comes to visit her work probably and she's not there to tell her that her daughter's missing."

Clay just laughed. "You sure you're not CIA?"

"Nope. Just little old boring me."

He walked forward and kissed her. "You are far from boring Stephanie Mae."

"Stop calling me by my first name."

* * *

Everyone and everything, including Mandy Ellis, was aboard the C-130 heading to Khost Province, Afghanistan. Full Metal had come with them but sadly Davis had stayed behind since she was technically in the schoolhouse and they could manage with whatever Intel guys 1-1 had over there. Or so they hoped. They weren't exactly happy about working with Intel guys they didn't trust and very much told Mandy when they saw her on the tarmac that they were relying on her and the CIA for Intel this time.

"Why are you here?" Jason asked Mandy as the plane took off.

Mandy shrugged. "When the CIA finds out that the daughter of one of their top agents has gone missing in Afghanistan, it's all hands on deck. They sent me in a private plane to get here."

"That meaning the CIA has greenlighted this?" Ray asked.

"Unofficially, yes."

Clay cleared his throat. "Speaking of the CIA, we need to call Leah and tell her about this before the Marine Corps CACO shows up at the cover story she has listed. Or shows up at the house and Jon finds out. We gotta give her the chance to make sure the cover story of her work is rock solid if she isn't going to be there."

Sonny looked at Clay. "That was remarkably thought out for you. You didn't come up with that on your own."

"Sloane put all the pieces together. I don't know if Leah's slipping on her cover stories or if my girlfriend is just really smart. I didn't say a damn word, I promise you that. She figured it out on her own."

Blackburn exchanged a look with Mandy. "Given how much I know about Sloane, I'd probably say it's the latter so props to Sloane. And she's right."

Mandy handed over her cellphone. "Put on speaker. Leah will answer if she knows it's coming from a CIA phone."

Sure enough, she answered. "Leah Vanderhoek." That was the name she went by in the CIA, so Mandy's suspicions were right.

"Thought you went by Leah Wellington," Clay decided that offence was the best defence and it got him a look from Blackburn.

"Clay?" Leah asked.

He drummed his fingers against the desk. "That would be me."

"You've got my attention calling from a CIA registered cell phone."

"That was on purpose. In about 20 minutes give or take, Marine Corps CACO is going probably going to come by your work given its just before quitting time in California and tell you that your daughter is missing. This is the Navy and the CIA's official call to let you know that they are coming and whatever cover story you may have for your work should probably be rock solid."

Leah set out a string of expletives that would make a sailor blush. "Thanks for the heads up. I'm in Tel Aviv right now getting debriefed by Mossad about fucking Brazil and Colombia."

Everyone shared a look with Mandy. "The Marine Corps are going to be turning over hell and earth looking for you, Leah, to be telling you," Clay said. "Does Jon know?"

"Jon knows about my real career, I told him after Colombia. Jon is listed on Kelsey's paperwork as her step-father. We went over it right before she left. Kelsey doesn't know but I made her put four emergency contacts in case this happened. Patrick, me, Jon and Dan Shanahan."

"So Jon will lie for you when the CACO Officer asks where you are?" Clay asked.

Leah sighed. "Yes." She paused. "My hands might be tied by the CIA right now and my warning is to whoever the CIA has beside you right now. The Marine Corps and the CIA better find my daughter before Mossad releases me. I will show up in Afghanistan and I won't give a damn about my career."

"We know," Clay told Kelsey's mom. "We are on our way over there right now."

"Good. Also, I may just tell my amazing husband to not be home or not to be found at Camp Pendleton and let the CACO Officers show up on the Senator's door. That will get some answers and something done on Capitol Hill. Am I making myself perfectly clear? Dan Shanahan and I go way back in our careers and so does Dan and your and Kelsey's father, Clay. The best thing for Kelsey's career right now is for you to have those CACO Officers find Dan Shanahan. I know I'm playing politics but this is my daughter's life and career at stake and if I can't be there right now, I'll have Dan do my bidding. I have to go but find my daughter and fast." With that, Leah hung up.

All eyes turned to Blackburn. "I'll make some calls and tell the CACO Officers her mother is out of town and her step-dad is on a training mission. As far as her husband is concerned, I know he's deep in the mountains in Afghanistan right now. It's up to his commanding officer to tell Patrick his wife is missing. But I'll rattle some cages and get those CACO Officers at Capitol or tomorrow morning."

* * *

Former Colonel, now US Senator for Louisiana, Dan Shanahan was in his office, preparing for a vote in about 20 minutes. He was also multitasking because he had an intelligence committee morning first thing he had to prepare for. One that the Joint Chiefs would be there for. He had to be on his game. And it was 8 pm and he was exhausted and wondering who the hell scheduled a vote this late.

His secretary, Rose, knocked on the door. "I told you no interruptions, Rose!" He was irritated- not at her, but at everything that day.

The door opened anyway. "I think a Marine Corps CACO Officer is worth the interruption," Rose replied, solemnly, before ushering the CACO Major into the Senator's office and closing the door.

Dan was no dummy. He had three kids in the military- Carley at West Point in her senior year, Patrick deployed to Afghanistan and his daughter-in-law, Kelsey also deployed to Afghanistan. He also knew he was the emergency contact for his biological kids. And he also knew in the case of their death, a CACO Officer would be trying to make the notification at home, with his wife Michelle, present. Instead, it was a single uniformed Marine officer in his office late at Capitol Hill. It sent immediate warning bells off in his head. He knew immediately this was about his son's wife. "Given the fact you aren't Army, this is not about my daughter at West Point. You are not addressing my wife and there isn't two of you to make the notification like normal, so I'm highly doubting my son has been wounded or died in combat. So I'm guessing my daughter-in-law put me as an emergency contact."

"Senator, Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek has you listed as an emergency contact. As you are most likely aware, her husband is deployed to hostile areas of Afghanistan and we are unable to reach him. Attempts have been made to reach her mother, who we have been told is out of the country and we can't locate her step-father. I was given an order to notify you."

Dan stood finally and address the Major giving the notification. "Huh. She's not dead, that much you're telling me."

"Sir, Lt. Vanderhoek has gone missing."

"How long?"

The Major grimaced. "8 hours, sir."

"Dismissed, Major. You're just the messenger. And someone is playing politics way above your pay grade. Sorry to make you come down here at such a late hour," Dan sighed.

The Major nodded. "I hope they find your daughter-in-law," he said sincerely before he left.

Dan pressed the intercom button on his phone to connect to the speaker. "Who's asked for my schedule lately?"

"Other than your wife, no one. And that was two days ago."

Dan hung up and swore. "Well, that reeks of the CIA and Leah," he muttered under his breath.

He got out his personal cell phone and called Clay Spencer. It immediately went to voicemail. As a former Delta Force commanding officer, that told him Clay was on a mission and Dan hoped to hell it was to rescue Kelsey but he didn't hold his breath. His next call was to Clay's girlfriend to do some recon to see where Clay actually was. He didn't have her number so he texted his daughter. He was also wanting to know if Clay was aware of Kelsey was missing. He had first had knowledge of the fact they really wanted to keep it separate on their military paperwork that they were siblings. As far as he knew, Clay was not an emergency contact nor had she put that she had a half-brother. She also scrubbed her paperwork free of her father, Ash. Dan also had knowledge of the fact that very few people had access to Kelsey's officer jacket and it was time to be making a call to NCIS Special Agent Eddie Bell to see who had attempted to access the classified jacket lately.

 **To: Carley Shanahan**

 **You have Clay Spencer's girlfriend's number? I think she was at the wedding?**

To his huge surprise, his daughter immediately texted him back. That was a huge shocker because Carley could not be counted on for communication unless she wanted something or was trying to get ahold of Patrick overseas or wanted Michelle to come to West Point, NY to visit her.

He got Stephanie Sloane's contact info and raised an eyebrow that her first name was Stephanie because all he had heard her referred to was Sloane.

 **From: Carley Shanahan  
** **Sent it to you. Why you asking? Anyways, if you're calling her, she'll know something's up. Seriously, that girl is the smartest person in the room. And P.S. I know you'll do recon so I'll save you some. Got out an as an E-4, Army, did one tour in Afghanistan as a Medic. Your welcome.**

 **To: Carley Shanahan  
** **CACO just came by. Kelsey is missing. 8 hours.**

 **From: Carley Shanahan  
** **Fucking hell. How bad? Like captured missing or my Humvee went on the wrong road missing? Does Patrick know?**

 **To: Carley Shanahan  
** **Given the level of panic and a CACO coming at 8 pm to Capitol Hill; I'm going with Taliban captured missing. DO NOT TELL ANYONE. If anyone has questions, deflect. Don't answer. I will handle this.**

Dan was a former Colonel, former Delta Force and he had resources as a Senator and head of the Intelligence Committee that not many people had. He was going to get his daughter-in-law back and he didn't exactly care about the rules he was about to be breaking to do so. His next item on his list after he got out of voting was to find out who Clay's commanding officer was and call them. And then call Brigadier General Bennett and tell him to get to Khost and figure this shut out before Dan flew to Afghanistan and did it himself.

* * *

Mandy held up a map of Afghanistan on the table in the C-130. "To refresh all your memories because I can guarantee you, Khost is not a province we've all visited lately, it's right near the Pakistani border."

Ray lifted an eyebrow. "Is your way of telling us that while we have somewhat authority to act in the bounds of the Afghanistan borders, thanks to the CIA, we do not have permission to cross the Pakistan border?"

Mandy grimaced. "Correct. As soon as we land and I can get a secure connection to Langley, I will ask them for what they have as far as intelligence in the reason and anything on Kelsey going missing."

"And if she is in Pakistan?" Jason asked.

"Mossad Officer Levi Aronson is in Pakistan right now," Mandy said quietly.

All of Bravo looked at each other. "Mossad?" Finally Blackburn said it.

"They are willing to work with us. The minute Leah hung up the phone with Clay, I had an email from the Deputy Director of Mossad in my inbox. Not sure how they knew that I was the CIA Officer beside Clay but it's Mossad," Mandy spat out. "They haven't officially offered up Levi Aronson but I know he's in Pakistan and I know he's worked with Leah before."

Clay changed the subject. He did not like the fact that the CIA was putting their foot down to them crossing a stupid imaginary line of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border to rescue Kelsey if they needed to. He also didn't like the fact that they might be working with Mossad again. They weren't all stupid, any half worth terrorist would have taken her to Pakistan knowing the US couldn't freely operate within Pakistani airspace or borders. "Has Kelsey's chain of command asked for additional resources?'

Blackburn sighed. "No and that's a problem for when we land. A huge problem. I think the CIA aspect might cover it but we also have to cover Leah's ass that she is CIA. Fall or Lt. Colonel Downs should have asked for a MARSOC team or a SEAL team the minute they realized she went missing."

"Who is in country anyways?'

"Alpha," Full Metal answered as that was his former team.

"So who over inside the wire there can we trust besides the fucker that called us, Briggs?" Sonny asked. "We know damn well sure we can't trust her chain of command."

Ray grimaced. "I think we put all of Headquarters on the enemy list. I think everyone in her company is friendlies, save for her Captain and her Top. We can trust the JAG which is a good thing."

Jason shrugged. "Having the base commander not wanting us there is going to be a little difficult."

"A little difficult?" Blackburn almost snorted. "We are lucky that the CIA greenlighted this instead of having to go through the normal channels and JSOC. Our best bet is that Dan calls his former drinking buddy, Brigadier General Bennett from Bagram and tells him to get his ass down there and do something and rein in the hatred coming from Headquarters towards Kelsey."

"Back to Dan," Clay said.

"The man is powerful," Mandy said. "And has a lot of friends in the right places. I'd give him a call when we land because I guarantee you he's already tried you and probably your girlfriend when he realized he got your voicemail."

"Back to Pakistan," Jason said. "Do we have any intelligence of where Kelsey is?"

Mandy shook her head. "None. It's like she, Keller and Rodriguez vanished off the face of the earth."

* * *

Kelsey woke up in a little mud hut and she instantly groaned. She had been taken hostage. Slowly it was starting to come back to her. Humvee with the fuel line deliberately cut. Blowing the Humvee up. Walking back to base and trying to find the friendly village she knew about. Bauer getting sniped right underneath his helmet and him falling to the ground. Keller getting a round to the shoulder. The three of them hitting the deck. And then she didn't remember anything after . She wasn't sure which was worse- remembering how she got held hostage or not remembering. She'd debate that later.

She looked around. Her arms were behind her, bound, but not tightly. No guards. Keller was stuffed into a corner and still looked unconscious. Rodriguez only looked asleep, thankfully. There were a thousand and one things running through her mind but she was the leader here and she needed to lead. Despite the fact that she was scared out of her fucking mind. She was fucking held hostage. Probably by the Taliban. The TALIBAN.

"Cigarettes," she hoarsely whispered at Rodriguez, hoping he would catch on. That was their distress and code word that they had pre-planned before they left base. She did not want to use first names. Last names had been removed from their uniforms when she told them to sanitize their uniforms.

Rodriguez cocked one eye open. "You good?"

She tried shrugging. "Everything hurts but yeah. You?"

"Enough to fight," Rodriguez replied. "Keller is still bleeding. They've been torturing him."

"Has he given anything?" That was her fear. She would die before giving enemies any useful information but she wasn't sure about her men.

Rodriguez shook his head. "No. You have a plan to get us out of here?"

"Let me think on it," Kelsey replied. "I hoping Briggs is my plan."

"Briggs?"

Kelsey looked around before telling her Corporal her secret. "My half brother is on a DEVGRU team. And I'm sincerely hoping that they are half way here and that Briggs filled them in on everything that has went down. Because if not…"

"We're on our own," Rodriguez answered for her.

"I never took my SERE training before coming to 1-1. And I don't think they cover this part in the training either," Kelsey said. "If they did, I really regret not taking it and I will be going for Air Force SERE immediately when I get back."

Rodriguez looked at her incredulously. "You think we'll get out of this alive?"

"I don't know. I really don't know," she answered honestly. She had her doubts.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the slow burn. It will heat up again and Bravo will meet Fall next chapter. That NJP will come up... again. As for Kelsey- I haven't decided who's going to pull her out of the hell hole. There's a lot of cooks in the kitchen right now that care about her coming home.**


	14. Chapter 14

Bravo plus Mandy wondered what would greet them on the 'tarmac' of what used to be FOB Salerno. It was turned over to the ANA and then the Americans took it back. No one had come up with a new name or agreed if they were using the old name. Sonny called it Hell Part 2 and no one disagreed with that name either. The landing on the C-130 was just as rough as they expected the base to be and their greetings.

It was night when they landed, nearing 10 pm so they were surprised to see Brigadier General Bennett along with Lt. Austin Briggs waiting for the ramp to lower on the C-130. Jason exchanged a glance with Blackburn who only looked at Mandy when they saw a Brigadier General greeting them. Mandy shrugged, she was also unaware of any Brigadier General being around. Briggs was to be expected, Bennett not so much. He was one of the Generals over at Bagram and was not the commanding officer of this base so his presence was a surprised. The last time he had come here, he was the convening authority for the article 32 hearing on Meah that Kelsey had wanted; the one that Meah had been convicted of all charges Captain Marshall had thrown at him.

"Imagine my surprise when I got a call from my former drinking buddy, a US Senator at a very late hour in Washington," Bennett began.

"Sir, Lt. Commander Blackburn, Master Chief Jason Hayes and CIA Officer Ellis," Blackburn introduced themselves. "Glad you could make it to the party."

Bennett rolled his eyes as Briggs started the Humvee. A Staff Sergeant sat in another that the rest of Bravo could get into. Blackburn, Jason and Mandy would ride with the General to see what he wanted. "And again, imagine my surprise when I finally show up to this clusterfuck of a situation which I'll get to later and finally get someone to request SOCOM resources and find out a SEAL team is on the way. One we didn't ask for. One we needed but didn't ask for."

"I can neither confirm nor deny how we got here," Blackburn replied.

Bennett raised his eyebrows. "The CIA Officer with you says everything, Lt. Commander."

"Briggs, you got us an update?" Jason asked the Lieutenant.

Briggs half snorted and then remembered he had a General in the back seat. "No. I was hoping you would have one."

"That's great," Jason muttered.

"Officially Lt. Vanderhoek is an absolute royal pain in my ass," Bennett said. "Unofficially I like the kid, I think the kid is going places and we need to get her back. Unofficially, her command which I will also get to while I am here, has completely and utterly fucked her over with her pants down and rendered her useless to the point where she got captured. Unofficially and very unofficially, her father-in-law has asked me personally to help you cut through her command bullshit to get her back and I intend on doing that because we all do not want Dan Shanahan showing up in Afghanistan. Am I making myself clear here?"

"Crystal, sir," Blackburn said. "No going through her command."

Bennett glared at the driver. "And Briggs, you are officially TAD to my command for the time I am here which means you do not report to Fall or Downs. You still have your own command but I trust you'll figure out how to deal with your responsibilities."

Briggs blew a huge sigh of relief right there. A Brigadier General sure held a lot more power than a Lt. Colonel or Captain. "I will, sir."

"Drop me off wherever I'm sleeping tonight, Lieutenant. I'll leave you to show our visitors where they can set up shop. I will be joining them at 06 00 sharp tomorrow morning, however, I want some sleep before making some orders I don't necessarily want to give tomorrow," Bennett ordered.

"Yes sir," Briggs replied.

They drove for 5 minutes in relative silence before stopping and Bennett paused before getting out. "Master Chief, can I have a word?"

Jason gave Blackburn a look before climbing out of the Humvee. He looked back and could see Ray looking very suspicious in the passenger seat of the second Humvee, even in the dark of night of Afghanistan. He supposed he could also probably tell what Ray was thinking, but that was years of working together. "Sir?" Jason asked.

Bennett paused before opened the door. "You can probably find Fall in the gym at this time of night. If not, he's bunking at ERE-9. I think you can find it."

Jason eyed the General. Definitely an old type of Marine, who shockingly was upfront with the fact he didn't mind female Marines but he was old school. Old school in the fact he was just telling Jason to go find Captain Avery Fall and tune him in. "Understood, sir. Have a good nights rest."

Briggs drove them to a tent where they could set up shop for the next however long it would take them. "There is already a phone and a computer in there. Not much, if you want or need anything more, the Intel guys can probably get it. I do know there's a secure connection there."

"Much appreciated, Lt," Mandy said, climbing out of the Humvee. She had her own laptop, but she appreciated what Briggs was trying to do. Smiling at the locals went a long way, she learned quickly.

Briggs sighed. "Accommodations are tight. There's another female CIA Officer on base right now, so you are bunking with her, if that's okay."

Mandy smiled. "Perfectly fine, Briggs," she said as she accepted the key. Langley had already told her Anne was on base so she expected this. CIA Special Activities Division worked out of another base not far from here so Mandy didn't know why Anne was here and didn't ask questions either.

"Don't go anywhere without a gun," Briggs also said. "I have one tent with a bunch of empty bunk beds. That's it. Bennett took the other prime sleeping quarters that are here. I don't have another empty bed for the Lt. Commander, sorry."

Jason smiled. "That's fine, Lt. The General can get the best sleeping quarters on base if that means he's on board with us tomorrow."

"Roger that," Briggs thinly smiled.

"Hey Ray," Jason told his second in command. "You got things here? We are bunking in ETW-5. Briggs and I are going to see if there is still some chow." Ray nodded an affirmative.

Jason, who had his sidearm in a drop leg holster, looked at Briggs. "Let's go."

"There's no eatable food in the chow hall at this time but you know that," Briggs said. "Where are we really going?"

"The General told me I could probably find Fall in the gym about this time. Is he correct on that statement?" Jason asked as they walked.

Briggs let out a smile. "Yeah."

Jason found Captain Avery Fall bench pressing. Thankfully the gym was empty. Briggs stood guard outside to make sure no one came in or out. "Looks a little heavy for you," Jason commented as Fall could barely get the rep up.

Fall sat up and sized Jason up. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Oh, I think you know who I am."

Fall rubbed his face with his towel. "Another one of the guy's Kelsey's been sucking dick that somehow came to rescue her and be her knight in shining armor? I don't see her husband here."

Jason's mouth almost fell open. He had heard a lot of horrible stuff about female Marines, he had heard the stories from Kelsey, only believing half of them but hearing this shit from her commanding officer? That blew him away. Not to mention, this was the commanding officer that basically signed her death certificate. Again, Jason Hayes wasn't left speechless often. "Wow, you really are that big of a dick, using your own words, so to speak."

Fall brushed that statement off and stood up. "I still stand by my statement. I've always thought that's how she got this prime deployment was sucking someone's dick. Or her daddy or father-in-law got her the deployment."

Jason decided that roughing this kid up wasn't going to do any good. Nor was putting the fear of God into him by words. Fall just didn't get it. The only way to knock Fall on his ass was UCMJ charges. "You know who Lt. Vanderhoek's father-in-law is, right?"

"Yeah, Senator Dan Shanahan."

He paced around a bit before getting to his point and noticed Briggs was watching, hopefully to see Jason school his commanding officer. "I'll let you in on a little secret. The Senator has a huge arsenal behind him. He's well connected. What you don't know, Captain, is who Lt. Vanderhoek's mom and biological father are. And let me tell you- the arsenal behind her parents is probably bigger than the Senator's. Don't fuck with it. Stay in your own lane, actually don't stay in your lane because you're continually fucking that up. But don't underestimate the power and the abilities of the people behind Vanderhoek's parents because you don't want to face it."

"Watch yourself, Master Chief," Fall glowered.

Jason just smiled. "Like I said, don't fuck with it. You don't know who sent us and you'll never know."

To his credit, Fall did look a little unnerved. "You're towing the line at insubordination right now."

"That's rich coming from the guy that's probably going to be hit with a whack of UCMJ charges for this clusterfuck. I heard the JAG on base is a great guy," Jason threatened. "Like I said, don't fuck with it. If Kelsey comes back with anything bigger than a scratch, this conversation will not be just a conversation. Is that perfectly clear?"

"Are you threatening me?"

"Absolutely," Jason said and walked away. He didn't even bother looking back to see how scared Fall looked.

* * *

Under the Afghan night, a helicopter carrying Lt. Patrick Shanahan and 4 of his men landed at Kandahar Airfield, across the country from where Bravo were. Patrick could make out the body of his commanding officer standing on the tarmac, awaiting the helicopter's landing. He stood far enough back to sort of not feel the wind from the Osprey's rotor wash.

Patrick nodded his thanks to the pilots and then walked towards his CO. His Captain meeting him on the tarmac was never a good sign, especially what was considered a successful op into Turkmenistan. His Captain meeting him on the tarmac most likely meant his shower and his thought of food that weren't MRE's was out of the window. Damn it all to hell, he thought as he approached. "Sir," he said cautiously.

His Captain, a wily guy by the name of Joe Watt who should be Major by now, had a deep scowl on his face and Patrick really didn't like that. "Shanahan," Watt said. "There's no other way to break it to you other than cold. Your wife is missing."

Just like Carley, his sister, had done in a text message to her father, Patrick asked the same to Watt. "Define, missing."

Watt, who usually never looked nervous, looked nervous. "I don't know Patrick. But I think one can safely assume, Taliban captured missing."

Patrick opened his mouth and then closed it, processing this information. "And nobody has told me about this, why?"

"You were in a country you weren't supposed to be operating in, Shanahan. Op came first. And don't fucking come at me. Orders came from the top on this one."

"Huh. Any chance you've been in contact with my wife's CO?"

Watt snorted. "A fuckup by the name of Fall? Yeah, I called him after CACO came here looking for you. Gave him an earful after he took me he wasn't requesting MARSOC or a SEAL team."

"What the flying fuck?!" Patrick said. "He's not going after my fucking wife!?"

Watt held out his hand in self defence. "Fall isn't. But I heard from the gossip mill that a SEAL team just landed at what used to be Salerno; one that Fall didn't ask for."

Patrick rolled his eyes and silently prayed that the SEAL team that Watt mentioned was Clay's. "Well that sounds a little better."

Watt held up a bag that was sitting by his feet. "Had Riley pack you a bag," Watt said.

"You sending me on another op?' Patrick asked. At least his CO hadn't gone through his shit, although Watt really wasn't that bad. His fellow Lt. Carson Riley was a lot better alternative to be packing him a bag though.

Watt laughed. "No. I'm sending you to Khost to go find your wife. Riley said there's a clean uniform or two in here and civvies if needed. The Osprey you got on is headed for Bagram. You can probably ask the pilots if they'll fly you to FOB Salerno or whatever they are calling it these days first or if they know someone who will fly you to Salerno from Bagram. Either way, I'll phone Bagram once you're in the air."

"Thanks, sir," Patrick was just about to start running for the Osprey.

"Not so fast," Watt replied. "First, I read Fall the riot act for not calling in additional resources. It is reprehensible that he didn't do it but I think it's even against regulations. I'll start looking it up, but I suggest you tell the JAG over there that as well. Secondly, you are to remain inside the wire in Khost Province. You do not go on a mission to find your wife. If I find out, and I will, that you left the wire, I will make sure you are re-assigned as a Public Affairs Officer to a base in Korea. No questions asked. Am I making myself clear?"

"Understood, sir. Thank you, sir."

"Dismissed. Go find Kelsey."

* * *

Clay was working out in the gym that was outside, trying to get used to the sand and the dust that was always part of the Afghan atmosphere. It was 05 30, and he could barely sleep so he decided to work out and found where he could workout outside. The sun was just trying to come up but someone had Gerry-rigged some lights to make it a little brighter.

He was just finished a set when someone else came into the little gym area. Clay immediately recognized the fact that that person was an officer and he wasn't sure if he was using an officer specified area or not but Briggs also told him that they didn't have set officer and enlisted areas on this base yet as it was too small.

"Just the person I was looking for," the man said.

"Sir," Clay said. He had been in the Navy long enough to know the stranger outranked him.

The unfamiliar man took a swig of his water bottle. "Captain Jonah Marshall."

"The JAG on base," Clay commented. "My sister had some interesting things to say about you."

Captain Marshall smiled. "And I have some interesting things to say about her. Heard you guys came in last night. Surprised that SOCOM authorized your team to go in, given your relationship with Lt. Vanderhoek."

Clay looked at the lawyer and was wondering if this was a trick question or how much the lawyer really knew. "SOCOM didn't authorize us to go in."

Marshall raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"We speaking off the record or on?" Clay asked. "And are you asking because you really don't know?"

"Off the record for now but I really don't know," Marshall asked. "I do believe I was previously lied to."

Clay snorted. "Figures Fall would lie to your face."

"Wasn't Fall who lied to me."

Clay raised an eyebrow. "The only person else on this base who has a stake in lying to you is Lt. Colonel Downs."

Marshall's face told the whole story on the fact that Lt. Colonel Downs was who lied to Marshall. "Are you authorized to be in country?"

"Yes. I don't know if you have the need to know or the security clearance to know who authorized it, but yes.," Clay replied. He really hoped nobody else was going to be walking into this gym area.

Captain Jonah Marshall sighed as he leaned against a piece of equipment. "I have to ask, because, besides Fall and Lt. Colonel Downs, Kelsey doesn't have a lot of enemies. Except a big one. Your father. Does he know she is over here?"

Clay looked at the JAG lawyer. He wasn't expecting that question but it was clear that Marshall was thorough. Clay would have preferred his own legal counsel while being questioned by a lawyer but he also knew that Jonah Marshall was legitimately trying to get to the bottom of Kelsey's abduction. He debated whether to tell the lawyer the full truth but decided if Kelsey's trusted him, he could too. "Our father came around Virginia Beach looking to get a hold of Kelsey shortly after she deployed. It was shortly after her birthday, which is when he usually makes his yearly amends with her. In a long story short, I think he knows she's deployed. He's not stupid. I didn't give him any indication of where because at the time, I didn't know either. I know Ash had been calling Kelsey's mother to get some more intel on where she was but he didn't get anywhere."

"Are you sure? I'd like to talk with Kelsey's mom, given what you just told me."

Clay laughed. "Positive. She would have told him to go to hell. And you could try all you wanted but you'd get Leah's voicemail."

"Something tells me you know where she is and it ain't Oceanside, California."

"You've read Kelsey's officer jacket," Clay observed.

Marshall raised an eyebrow. "Front and back, side to side. Enough to know she has a NCIS leak investigation to her name, no reason for her officer jacket to be classified by the highest levels of NCIS and not a damn mention of Ash Spencer or you in it and it lists her mother as a manager of a bank in Oceanside."

"You've done your homework," Clay said.

"I'm only looking out for her. Because there are people on this base that aren't. The more I know about your sister, the better."

Clay shrugged. "I trust you. For now. Look, Ash isn't behind this. If I called him today to tell him that she was abducted by the Taliban..."

Marshall interrupted. "That's something you don't have intel on."

"No but it's a damn good assumption," Clay refuted.

"We don't run on assumptions in the legal world," Marshall replied.

"Fair enough. If I called Ash," Clay rephrased. "And told him that his daughter was missing, he would round up all his buddies, even the ones that considered him persona non grata and they'd be hitting the hills of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border by nightfall tonight. Might end up in his next book, however."

Marshall rolled his eyes. "Please don't."

Clay looked over and saw a familiar face in very dirty cammies. "You're a long way from Kandahar, Shanahan."

Patrick Shanahan smiled as he saw his brother-in-law. "I was kind of looking for a familiar face. Glad I saw you."

"Captain Jonah Marshall, JAG, meet Lieutenant Patrick Shanahan. The husband," Clay introduced.

Patrick shook the lawyer's hand. "Sir. Glad to finally meet you."

"Please tell me you are not UA and I don't have to charge you," Marshall pleaded.

Patrick smiled. "I'm not that good to convince a bunch of Osprey pilots to fly me from Kandahar to Bagram and then a Greyhound pilot making a supply drop from Bagram to here without permission from my CO."

"Where have you been?" Clay asked. "The Afghan countryside?"

"Can neither confirm nor deny that," Patrick rolled his eyes.

Warning bells went off in Clay's head. Clearly Recon was operating outside the borders of Afghanistan; no wonder why Joe Watt was unwilling to go get Patrick out of the lovely Afghan countryside to tell him about Kelsey. "Huh."

Patrick looked at the lawyer. "You have enough on Fall to bring him down?"

Marshall shook his head. "No. What he did may be frowned upon but it's not illegal. I can't charge him based on that. I know Briggs and Smith called the SHARP hotline about his inappropriate comments but I have to let politics play out on that one and let SHARP call me."

Patrick held out his hand. "Lt. Commander Blackburn or your little mighty mouse," Patrick looked at Clay for a name.

He laughed. "Davis, she's in the schoolhouse for Intelligence. Same course Kelsey had to take."

"Either of them could help you but my Captain told me there is a document and doctrine put out by the Joint Chiefs regarding Special Operations. Infantry doesn't follow Special Operations guidelines but I'm betting you could find some wording in there about him not following proper chain of command procedures regarding SOCOM. My Captain read Fall the riot act and tore him a new one when CACO visited him at Kandahar to find me."

Marshall contemplated. "That's very interesting news. Tell your commanding officer, I say thank you."

Clay looked at Patrick and then back at the lawyer. "That's not all. Kelsey has a notebook that she's been keeping, amassing information on Fall."

"Where the flying fuck is it?" Marshall asked.

Both Clay and Patrick shrugged. "Her roommates would probably know."

Marshall rolled his eyes, his foul language coming back now that he was more awake and more pissed off at life. "Spencer, find Briggs and tell him to fucking find me. Lieutenant Shanahan, go have a shower and a nap for Christ's sakes. That's a fucking order."

Fifteen minutes later, Captain Marshall in uniform now, was banging on the door to Kelsey's tent, along with Lt. Briggs. Lt. Brittany Howell opened the door, gun in hand again. "I thought you might be looking for," she looked at Briggs and then at Marshall. "I'm going to shut up now." Brittany knew their other roommate, Dani, and Briggs had a 'thing' going on or they were trying to but it was definitely against regs here in Afghanistan.

"Looking for Kels' notebook," Briggs said. "You know where it is."

The doctor reappeared with it a minute later. "I was wondering when someone was going to come looking for this."

"You know what's in there?" Marshall asked.

"Nope, so that's why I'm handing it to Briggs so he can make sure there's nothing personally damaging in there," Brittany replied.

Marshall decided to look the other way while Briggs thumbed through the pages. Briggs eventually raised his eyebrows as he held open a page. "Sir, you're going to want to see this."

The JAG took one look at it before nodding to Brittany and she closed the door to the tent to get some sleep. "Well, this might be the nail in the coffin to bring Fall down. I don't know why Kelsey was sitting on this for so long. She should have fucking come to me about this."

* * *

Bravo, Mandy, Lt. Austin Briggs, Lt. Patrick Shanahan, JAG Captain Marshall and Brigadier General James Bennett sat in the tent at Salerno, pouring over the lack of zero evidence they had since Kelsey, Keller, and Rodriguez went missing and Bauer was killed. Marines had gotten Bauer's body back at it was at Salerno waiting for Bennett's authorization to fly it back. Unfortunately with the three Marines missing, they couldn't even tell Bauer's family yet that he had been killed because of the sensitive nature of what had happened. No one knew if Keller and Rodriguez's families had been told yet if their family members were officially missing. Everyone knew that Kelsey's family had been told because they were military and knew to keep their mouths shut but that might also not be proper military protocol.

"Do we have anything?" Brock asked.

"Anything on Bauer, Keller and Rodriguez? We know about Kelsey's enemies, but we don't know about theirs," Jason pointed out.

Briggs started speaking. "Corporal Keller is from Philly. Good kid, has a wife and a eight month old son. Don't know much about him but no previous gang activity that I'm aware of. Joined the Corps because he didn't want to go to University yet."

That was a bust. Ray looked at the information in front of him. "Sergeant Chris Bauer is from Wendell, Idaho. Ranching country. Was below the zone for promotion to Staff Sergeant and did it in six years, which is highly impressive. Ex-wife who the MP's have already talked to but she said they remained amicable. Got married too young. Good Marine, horrible loss."

Mandy took control of the next one. "Corporal Luis Rodriguez is the only one with an interesting background and it's not that interesting. Came over from Cuba as a six year old and is an American citizen as his mother was. Mother was born in Amsterdam, have no idea how she got to Cuba but she stayed, had Luis there. Kid is extremely clean and the CIA has nothing on him or his family in Cuba."

"He had a gift for languages. Him and Kelsey were always talking between Spanish and Dutch," Briggs remarked.

Bennett sighed. "So we have four exceptional Marines with only one of them having any major enemies and no reason for abducting them besides spite."

"Not so fast, sir," Mandy said. "I think we may have found our answer. And we're. not going to like it. I just got an email from Mossad."

"Mossad!" Bennett exclaimed. "What the fuck is Mossad doing in this clusterfuck?"

Blackburn sighed. "You don't want to know."

"Are you saying it's above my pay grade?" Bennett ground out. "How do you all know?"

Mandy sighed. "They were involved in the op of why Mossad is involved. I sent a request to the CIA asking for satellite footage of the area the three Marines were captured. The CIA said the US did not have satellite footage over the area. I still believe that to be true. Mossad just sent over what is to be satellite footage of the time Bauer was killed and the three Marines were abducted that they have obtained. It's not Israeli satellite footage."

"Satellite footage from who?" Clay asked.

Mandy shrugged. "At this point, I don't care."

They watched the horrifying video from above of Bauer going down and three bullets that looked like went into the shoulders of the remaining Marines. They couldn't tell of they were tranquilizers or actual bullets. They could tell from the footage that Keller had been actually shot and it looked like Kelsey and Rodriguez had been shot but no blood.

And then the men came to grab them and one of them looked at the sky. "Is that Abin Atwal?" Sonny asked.

"Son of a bitch, it is," Blackburn said.

"I'll get Mossad to confirm with their toys but I'm in the camp that it's Abin Atwal," Mandy replied.

"What are the chances that the same guy who tries to obliterate Clay and us ends up kidnapping his sister in Afghanistan?" Sonny asked.

"I don't believe in coincidences," Jason said.

Marshall turned to Patrick. "You've been awfully quiet. What's your opinion?"

"My only thought is does this bastard operate in Pakistan? I honestly don't want to think about anything else."

"Yes," Mandy said quietly.

All eyes turned to Bennett. "You do not have authorization to enter Pakistan."

* * *

Kelsey was being waterboarded. She had her fingers broken earlier and was surprised that they broke her fingers before waterboarding her. Son of a bitch, they must thought that she had useful information. She had none. She might be an Intelligence Officer and Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps but she had no good information. Fuck, Fall made sure she had no relevant or good information. However, she would die before telling her captors anything useful.

Keller had been pretty much left for dead after taking a bullet to the shoulder. He was bleeding out pretty bad and then they tried torturing him for information, hoping he was the most vulnerable of the bunch because he was the weakest. What they didn't know was that Keller had grown up a farm kid in Wendell, Idaho and was one tough bastard. In a brief moment of consciousness he said he hadn't told them a thing.

Rodriguez hadn't been tortured for information yet. They both figured he'd be last as he was supposedly the strongest. Kelsey and him had devised a plan before they took her away- tell nothing. They would die in this hell hole in Pakistan before telling a single piece of information that was remotely valuable to their captors. They were willing to sign on the dotted line for their country and they were willing to die for their country.

So far, Kelsey had only been waterboarded about questions of the US activities in Afghanistan which she thought was a very limited line of questioning. They also hadn't raped her which surprised her and Rodriguez. Whatever they were after, they were specific. And then Kelsey saw the 'head' terrorist come into the room to waterboard her more and ask her questions about troop movement and she recognized him and realized why she was here. It was the same son of a bitch who almost killed her brother.

So as she sat there gasping for breath, she silently wondered. How the fuck did Abin Atwal find out who she was? Was it was a lucky guess that he happened on them being broken down? Or did somebody tip off the Taliban financier and bomb maker? She also silently wondered if her brother's SEAL team was asking the same questions and hoped to God they had figured out who had taken her by now. Because she would die before Abin Atwal got Clay Spencer's location from her.

* * *

 **AN: Well, we got Fall about to go down, Kelsey in Pakistan officially (where they are not allowed to enter) and the name of the bad guy who took her (re-read chapter 5 for his first entrance)**


	15. Chapter 15

Kelsey and Rodriguez sat in silence in a room. Keller was unconscious on the floor beside them, still. They didn't bother trying to wake him up or see if he could regain consciousness. It was probably be better that he wasn't fully awake, given how much Abin Atwal's men tortured him for information. Given the questioning they were going at Kelsey with, Keller hadn't given them anything. But, as well, Atwal was angling for information regarding American activities within Afghanistan and Keller would have zero intel on that. Kelsey and Rodriguez and talked once they had shoved Kelsey back in and they suspected they wanted Clay's location but Kelsey would be telling the truth when she had no information on any Tier 1 team's positions.

"It's like they packed up in the dead of night," Rodriguez commented, in English for the first time. He was more comfortable with Spanish but they had spoken mainly Dutch to each other as there was no way Atwal or his men knew that language. For the longest time he wondered why his mother made him speak Dutch to her every time they talked on the phone; now he was so thankful for that third language he never thought he'd find useful. Now it was almost his lifeline to speak to Kelsey with.

She looked at the Corporal. "And leave us unguarded?"

"No one has come and its past dark and they gave been pretty good about giving us food around sunset," Rodriguez said.

Kid was smart. "So why the change?"

"They never came for me either?"

"Do you think they know who I am? My uniform was sanitized. They never actually asked me about my brother straight up. Alluded to but nothing concrete."

Rodriguez shrugged and stood up. "Your guess is as good as mine. Why leave us here, K? Why?"

She also stood up to stretch her legs. They were in a mud hut with a steel door, bars on the window so they could see out and nothing else. They weren't in handcuffs or restraints and she was weirded out with the whole situation. Why leave them like this and take off? It didn't make any sense. "They left a donkey outside," she commented. She could hear it braying. "So maybe they are coming back."

Rodriguez sighed. "That's not a good thing."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," she said. She had no answers.

He walked to the door and knelt down. "Well, I think I know why they left us in the room unguarded. You said this guy was a bomb maker according to the CIA agent you know?"

"Yeah, a Taliban financier and a bomb maker," she said. "Why?"

Rodriguez pointed to the wire sticking out of the wall. "Because they rigged this thing to explode."

* * *

Back at FOB Salerno, Mandy, Blackburn and the Intel guy they had pawned that they thought they could trust- Anderson, were pouring over what they had on northern Pakistan. Patrick was finding everything he could on Abin Atwal's latest movements from the time that he almost blew up Clay in the Yemen desert to now. And the CIA didn't have much. Mandy had reached out to her contacts within Mossad to see what they had on Abin Atwal, after they confirmed it was him on the satellite footage they provided.

Captain Marshall was reading a brief when Captain Avery Fall walked into the room that he was not supposed to be in. He didn't have the security clearance or the need to know to be in here. "Excuse me?" Marshall asked Fall. "Get the fuck out."

Knowing they were the same rank, Fall stared at the lawyer. "I just wanted to know where we were at. If I should be planning a rescue operation."

Blackburn decided to take control as Bennett, the ranking officer on the base, was having chow at the time of Fall's outburst, which was probably planned. Bennett wouldn't put up with that shit. "You don't have the clearance to be in this room. Secondly, you have fucked this up enough that you are absolutely not a part of this rescue operation to rescue the three Marines that you got captured."

"I didn't get them captured. The Taliban captured them," Fall said.

"How do you know it was the Taliban?" Mandy asked.

Fall raised an eyebrow. "Anyone here with half a brain knows it's the Taliban."

Marshall had enough of this and got on his radio to the MP's. "It's time."

Within two seconds, a Staff Sergeant burst through the door and took out his handcuffs. "Captain Avery Fall, pending UCMJ charges, you are remanded to the brig until further notice."

Fall looked at Marshall and then Blackburn and then back at the MPs. "What are you charging me with?"

"You'll find out but being in here when you've been told this is off limits because your security clearance was enough for me to put the cuffs on you and the feeling was absolutely glorious," Marshall smirked to the other Captain. "I'll make sure those charges are juicy and stick for a long time. After I'm finished helping fix your fuck up that left 3 Marines captured. In case you haven't forgotten."

After the MP's led Fall away, everyone in the tent turned to Marshall for answers. "What did you sink him on?" Clay finally asked.

The smirk was still on Marshall's face. "I had to get creative because a lot of the things he's done are frowned upon but not illegal. Don't worry, I'll still nail him with conduct unbecoming. But the big one he'll get charged with is Article 37."

Everyone, who never really worried about UCMJ charges like they should probably, racked their brains to figure out what obscure charge Marshall was talking about. Finally Full Metal came up with it. "Undue command influence?!"

"Did he actually just get that right?" Jason asked.

Marshall smiled. "He did. It's not classic undue command influence but I have talked to a few other military JAGs and they do agree that it meets the threshold to be tried for the charge."

"What did he do?" Ray asked.

Marshall shrugged as if it was no big deal, but it was a huge deal. "Sent Vanderhoek an email that if she didn't drop the Meah case with me, he'd destroy her career. Quid Pro Quo. And she didn't drop it and he destroyed her career with that letter of reprimand that wasn't local."

"Wow, that's dumb as fuck," Sonny commented. "You have evidence?"

"Kelsey had the email saved and printed. He was dumb enough to put a quid pro quo into words."

Jason rubbed his face. "That's some sort of stupid."

* * *

"He rigged this thing to explode?" Kelsey exclaimed.

Rodriguez looked at her. "Well, I'm more guessing that he rigged it so that whoever opened the door to come find us would have more damage."

"The SEAL team that SOCOM sent in," Kelsey said. "Hopefully. We still don't know anyone is coming for us. We are in Pakistan."

"Your brother's team."

Kelsey looked at the wiring. "You think we can disarm this now that we know about it?"

Rodriguez gave her a "you-must-be-stupid" look. "I'm not a SEAL."

"It's either we figure out how to undo this wiring or we die, Luis."

"I know. I said I wasn't a SEAL, not that I didn't have a misspent youth and the fact the Corps did send me to a course or two on how to blow shit up."

Kelsey smiled. "That's what I like hearing."

Before Rodriguez got to thinking about how to getting the bomb apart he looked at Keller and then at his commanding officer. "Do you think anyone is coming for us?"

"You want the truth?"

He just looked at her. "Preferably."

"I think the minute we missed our check in call to Anderson, Briggs was on the phone to who I gave him a number to. Give them 18 hours to make it over here, I'd say they are in Afghanistan or someone is."

Rodriguez nodded. "But you think we are in Pakistan?"

"I'd bet my entire life on it," Kelsey swallowed. "And we aren't legally allowed to conduct cover operations within territorial borders of Pakistan. I think they are sitting in the wire at our base, with their kit on, waiting for some sort of intelligence and the official okay."

Rodriguez rubbed his head. "I don't know if that makes me feel better or not. Knowing that we have people actively looking for us but not in country."

"I know the feeling, Luis. I think that's why we need to take some matters into our own hands. Starting with getting this bomb apart."

"If this goes wrong when I'm taking it apart, we die."

She looked at him seriously. "I know. And if we don't do this, and a SEAL team, MARSOC or Delta comes in through that door if they find us and without knowing its wired, its going to be more than three of us that is dead."

He closed his eyes. "You're right."

"And that fucker might be on a timer so we could be dead anyways," Kelsey pointed out.

"Alright. Let's see if my misspent youth days come in handy," Luis muttered. "Give me that stick that's in the corner."

* * *

"Do we have a target package yet?" Clay asked Mandy, wanting to go rescue his sister.

The elephant in the room was that Bennett would absolutely not allow Clay or Patrick to go on that rescue mission but other than Patrick's commanding officer, Watt, telling him he wasn't allowed to go- no one had told Clay he was sitting this one out. Mandy just looked at Clay and then at Marshall who shrugged at the computer beside her. "No."

Bennett who was now in the room, spoke. "We do know Atwal is in Pakistan, right?"

"Mossad confirmed. Except that's where Israeli cooperation seems to be ending, except for giving me the number to a Mossad Officer in northern Pakistan."

Bennett raised an eyebrow. "Do you know said Mossad Officer?"

"I do."

Bennett sighed. "Reach out to him. And reach out to Indian Intelligence. I know we can't reach out to Pakistani ISI because they'd fuck us over with our pants down with whatever intel they gave us but India might be willing to give us something good."

"Sir," Mandy said reluctantly.

He held up his hand. "I know what deal you struck that pissed the CIA off so far it wasn't funny. I'm aware. And I will protect you as far as I possibly can."

"Making the calls now," Mandy replied.

Blackburn came up beside Bennett and looked at the General. "You know what this means if they do get information that those three Marines are in Pakistan?"

"I have to give the go ahead to go into a country that I was read the riot act last month not to go near by the Joint Chiefs?" Bennett laughed.

"In not so many words, yes," Blackburn replied.

"I'm aware, Commander. I'm also aware my career is done if I unilaterally approve this without running it across anyone which I have no intentions of doing."

"You're not telling anyone else that you are approving a Tier 1 team to go rescue three Marines in Pakistan?! Did I hear that correctly?" Blackburn said.

Bennett shrugged. "Nope. That's why I have my retirement package put together and the minute I say yes, I'm telling my Staff Sergeant at Bagram and telling her to hit send on it and shit will hit the fan when they get it but it will hopefully protect you guys downrange by me doing it."

Blackburn just looked at the General. "Wow. What about air support?"

"That's been covered. I have two helicopter pilots who have the necessary security clearance and balls to do a mission into Pakistan on standby at Bagram."

"You're a Brigadier General and I'm just a Lieutenant Commander but are you sure that you are ready to throw away your career for this operation?"

Bennett nodded. "I'm okay with it. Haven't told my wife but she'll be happy that I'm coming home early, maybe not without my full pension when they find out what I've done."

"Why, sir. Why?"

"My uncle was a Vietnam vet. He was a POW for many years," Bennett said plainly.

"Understood."

* * *

Back at the 'house', Kelsey and Rodriguez were trying to take the wiring and bomb apart. It was clear that despite Abin Atwal's reputation for being a bomb maker, they wired this one hastily and it was pretty easy to take apart so far and find the wires, despite most of them being on the other side of the steel door. Said steel door was actually open they came to find out, which was extremely scary but they knew that was for their benefit- their captors probably never thought they'd figure out the room was wired to blow.

"We have a problem," Rodriguez said, quickly.

"What," Kelsey replied, sharply.

He stood up, going for Keller, who was still on the ground. "The bombs on a timer. We have three minutes."

"You grab Keller, I'm going for the donkey and we are making a run for it," Kelsey decided. "As fast as we can through that door."

"Done," Rodriguez said. "It was nice knowing you, K."

"Same to you, Luis," she replied.

He picked up his fellow Marine in a fireman carry, he looked at his commanding officer and she nodded and they opened the door fully and ran full throttle through the door. It didn't go off. Rodriguez kept running as fast as he could while Kelsey went for the donkey in the pen in the back.

She met up with him a distance as far as they could make it before they figured the three minutes was up. "I didn't take you to be a softy for animals," Rodriguez commented.

"I'm not but we can put Keller on the donkey," she shot back.

"Oh; that's actually smart," Rodriguez said.

And then the hut blew up. They all crouched down with Kelsey holding on for dear life to the donkey who just brayed lightly as the sky light up orange with fire and sparks from the undoubtedly C4 that the bomb was made with. They watched the fire for a couple minutes as the explosion continued.

"Holy fuck," Kelsey said. "Nobody would have survived that."

"You think they'll figure out we are alive?"

"Our captors or the SEALs?" Kelsey asked.

"Both."

"Our captors are going to figure it out when there is no bodies and their donkey is missing, if they realized they left him behind. The SEALs, we just have to hope to God that explosion was big enough that someone caught it on satellite."

"What's your plan, Captain?"

"K, is perfectly fine right now," Kelsey shot back. Luis wasn't allowed to call her by her rank in that hut or outside that wire in case someone found out and she truly didn't give a shit about formality right now. It was about surviving. "Keep Keller alive. And keep us alive until someone rescues us."

Rodriguez sighed. "Solid plan. Do we stay holed up here or do we continue walking?"

"I got no idea. I have no idea where we are. Even if I did, I can't even tell you if making a break for the Afghanistan border or going farther into Pakistan for medical treatment for Keller is a smarter idea."

"I think going into Pakistan might be the smarter idea at this point," Rodriguez commented.

She grimaced. "Let's put Keller on the donkey and see if we can keep him upright or find something to tie him on and lets hope our sense of direction is right."

* * *

The explosion made the Israeli's satellite and Mossad was immediately on the phone to Mandy to report what happened. Two figures running from a building and then a large explosion. Mandy asked the million-dollar question- was one of the figures a woman? Mossad couldn't definitely say without doing some serious enhancing and the explosion had just happened but they said with some probability that it was Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek.

Mandy gathered Bravo and reported what had happened. "There was an explosion at a possible target house that Mossad had been watching."

Jason asked the question. "Any survivors?"

Blackburn put up the Israeli satellite footage. "There is no confirmation of the two people running from the building but given the fact it looks like one is carrying someone and the other looks like a woman, we believe its Lt. Vanderhoek, Corporals Keller and Rodriguez."

"Israeli satellite footage pick up what happened after that?" Trent asked.

Mandy shook her head grimly. "No. It was lucky we got that."

"So we don't know where they are?" Brock turned to Blackburn.

"If I know my sister she's going to keep moving and not hole up," Clay replied.

Ray agreed. "I would agree with that but it looks like someone is injured if they are carrying him out. How far can they go with someone injured?"

Patrick spoke up. "Far. If you take turns you can go far. We all know that. I'm guessing it's Keller who's injured given by the satellite footage Mossad gave us earlier. So Rodriguez is probably carrying him out and he's 6'4'' and 210 according to his service jacket."

"You in agreement that she's not going to stop?" Jason asked Kelsey's husband.

"Yeah, I agree with Clay. She's going to try and get medical treatment for Keller. She probably guesses she's in Pakistan but has no idea where."

Ray shrugged. "I'd do the same. I'd try and head for the next village, even if it is in Pakistan."

Clay looked at Mandy. "Where's the nearest village to this?"

"Miran Shah. Mixed on American views from what I can tell."

"So safe enough for her to stay in?" Clay asked.

"I believe so."

Bennett sighed. "Go find her before she gets to Miran Shah and the whole fucking Pakistan Army knows there's three American military members in their country."

"Is this your official okay?" Jason asked.

"Yes. I am also dropping my retirement papers right now as well to hopefully avoid the blow back on everyone. I can't see this ending well. Marshall isn't in here but he read me all the legal reasons for why I shouldn't be authorizing this and that will be the sentiment across the entire military."

"Thank you sir," Clay said.

"There's two helo pilots who are also risking their lives for this. One who has worked with you guys before."

Ray looked at the General. "Who?" They typically didn't know the names of the pilots who flew them on their missions.

"Navy Lt. Levi Hale. I only know this because your name, Senior Chief Ray Perry, was listed as one of the people who routed his Distinguished Flying Cross up his chain of command," Bennett smiled.

Ray smiled back. "Well now it's just coming full circle. Hale rescues Spencer from Abin Atwal and now he's flying the bird that is going to rescue the other Spencer from Abin Atwal."

"Poignant. But Spencer, you're not going on this mission to rescue your sister."

Clay wasn't really expecting that, even though everyone else was. "Sir," he began to start to say.

Bennett shot him down. "Do you know what Abin Atwal's men have done to your sister in the 3 days they held her?"

"No, that doesn't matter."

"It does," Bennett said. "This mission is very personal and way too personal. Especially given the fact that Atwal definitely wants you dead and we don't know who set this up to get her captured. I don't believe in coincidences and it's not a coincidence, that a brother and a sister, high profile ones, have come across the same Taliban fucker in less than a year."

"I can put my emotions behind me," Clay argued.

Bennett raised an eyebrow. "First, I'm not risking you as a Tier 1 operator if Atwal wants you dead. At all. Not until we have every puzzle piece figured out. I'm not risking Bravo for this if Atwal wants you dead. And more importantly and this is exactly why Watt grounded Shanahan and her husband knows better than to argue with this, can you keep your emotions in check when you find out what they've done to your sister in the three days they've had her?"

"It doesn't matter," Clay spat out. "I can handle seeing her being tortured."

Bennett sighed. "Spencer, I know how close you and your sister are. And I don't think you can keep your emotions in check if you find out that God forbid and I really hope they haven't, raped your sister. I don't think you can."

Jason swallowed, not believing Bennett actually said the words he was thinking but the General was right. "The General is right Clay. I think it's best you stay behind on this mission." He was almost thinking Alpha should be the ones to pull them out given Bravo's immensely personal relationship with Kelsey but it was go time; they'd do it.

"You're agreeing with him, Jase!?" Clay exclaimed.

"I am. Kelsey will be in good hands once we rescue her. But I can't have you on this mission."

Ray stepped in. "We are going to find her, get her and get all three medical care as soon as possible. But the General is right; they've been in captivity for three days. We don't know what they've done to them. And for that reason, you and Patrick need to stay here."

"I can't believe you guys!" Clay seethed, seeing red.

"It's best for everyone," Blackburn said. "And best for your sister."

Patrick interrupted, as he was helping Mandy with Intel as they had kicked the Intel officer out. He hated the talk that Bennett gave Clay although it was just a longer talk than the one that Watt had given him at Kandahar. He understood why he couldn't go even though he had the experience to roll with these guys. He wanted to find his wife so badly but he also knew his emotions might get the better of him and for that, he'd let someone else do the job and instead greet her as soon as she got back to Afghan soil. "Helo's are landing. Go time boys."

Blackburn looked at Jason, Ray, Sonny, Trent, Brock and Scott who were more than ready to go kick some ass and go bring the three Marines home. "Go get Kelsey, Rodriguez and Keller."

* * *

 **AN: Short chapter for you**


	16. Chapter 16

**8 hours later**

"I cut you new orders," Brigadier General James Bennett said as he walked into the clinic. It was pretty well determined that her right foot was broken as well as her right two middle fingers from her time in that little hut. "I dropped my retirement package this morning; figured the least I could do before I get kicked out after they figure out this clusterfuck is give you decent orders."

She looked up at him and looked at the blood stained bed that hadn't been cleaned up yet where Keller was. "I'm fine here, sir."

Bennett must have told everyone to get lost, who had come to see after the fall out, including Clay, and took the chair beside her bed. "You're leaving tonight to go back to the United States. I told your roommate, Lt. Pierce, to pack your sea bags for you so blame her if there's anything missing," he said with a wiry smile.

While Kelsey hated the task of packing and was somewhat glad she didn't have to pack, she had only been in theatre five weeks. "Sir, I have nine months remaining on this deployment. I want to come back."

"You are a Marine, through and through and your fathers daughter," Bennett said. "I think he would say the same things. But you can't. This wasn't your fuck up but you can't come back to this infantry battalion. Not after this."

She ignored the comments about Ash. "Isn't that giving Captain Fall and Lt. Col. Downs what they want, sir? Me to get transferred?"

"No, giving them what they want would be for you to remain in this company and have your career ruined. I had your NJP moved to a local. I couldn't make it go away forever but it will go away the minute you sign into your new command."

"Thank you sir," Kelsey said. That meant a whole lot to her career. A NJP would mean the death of it permanently but she could deal with it getting moved to a local. It would still be in her file but it wouldn't be hanging over her face. "Where is my new command?"

"Hawaii. 3-3 Marines. 6 months as the XO of the command. Now that the NJP is gone, you should be on track to making 1st Lieutenant as planned."

"You're still letting me play the infantry game?"

"Yes, just because I'm pulling you from this very toxic company doesn't mean the Marine Corps doesn't believe in you to be an infantry officer and maybe have your own command at the infantry game. But there's something else. You're TAD to Dam Neck for counterintelligence school while you heal up. A spot opened up and I got you in it."

Kelsey looked at the General, almost amazed. "Seriously?"

"I know. I know there wasn't a spot for CI when you graduated TBS so your detailer just sent you to regular intel school which is fine but I think this will do a lot more for your career."

"Thank you, sir."

"I know it's not Pendleton where Lt. Shanahan is but I'm glad for 18 weeks you have some family while you recover," Bennett said. "I told your detailer that he better be putting you and your husband back together after Hawaii."

"For that I am very grateful," she replied.

He stood up. "I know I'll probably see Senator Shanahan and his wife soon now that I'm going to have some free time but I'm sure they'll be at Dover or Walter Reed when you get there, so please say hi to them for me."

"Thank you again sir," Kelsey replied.

"Semper Fi Marine," Brigadier General Bennett said as he closed the opened the curtain to leave.

"Semper Fi."

 **8 hours earlier**

"Why did we agree to not hole up until someone found us?" Rodriguez asked Kelsey under the darkness of night.

She looked back at him as she led the donkey forward. They had found a way to basically tie Keller to the donkey and Rodriguez made sure he stayed tied as they trudged forward. The donkey must have been used to walking because he wasn't tiring yet, even with Keller on his back. "Because the Marine on the donkey's back is two seconds away from death."

"Do you think he'll make it?" Rodriguez finally asked, after about 10 minutes of silence. It was a question that Kelsey and Rodriguez had both been not wanting to ask each other- would Keller survive?

She sighed, not turning back to look at Keller or Rodriguez. "I'm no doctor but the fact that he hasn't woken up once since we tied him to Eeyore makes me very concerned."

"You're limping," Rodriguez commented.

She couldn't hide that from her 'partner'. "They crushed my foot while they waterboarded me. It was the same foot I had stress fractures in. Figured it was just the walking we've been doing."

"Do you think it's broken?"

Kelsey sighed. "I think they dropped something insanely heavy on it while they were pouring water over my mouth." She stopped as they came over the hill. "We found lights of Pakistan, Luis."

"We found lights. Another mile?"

"And then we have to find a friendly house in the middle of the night," Kelsey said.

"Not middle of the night," Rodriguez said. "Sun is coming up."

Kelsey smiled at him. "I sure hope that's literally and metaphorically."

* * *

At base, the men had piled into two helicopters in the dead of night, which worked better for them. Jason, Ray and Full Metal in the one; Sonny, Trent and Brock in the other helicopter. It was full throttle to the Pakistan border and then a helo would insert them two miles from the burned out house where they thought Kelsey might be headed and they would search for her there.

They ran into one problem along the way. A major problem. Ten miles from base, and a mile from the Pakistan border, a surface to air missile hit the helicopter carrying Sonny, Trent and Brock. It wasn't a direct hit but the helicopter had to return to base before it spun out and crashed. And it was better to crash in Afghanistan than Pakistan. A lot better.

"What do we do now?" Mandy asked Blackburn.

Blackburn told Jason what had happened and Jason said they could handle it with three men. "We wait for them to return to base and then figure out a new game plan."

"So we sit here?" Clay asked, sharpily.

The commanding officer of Bravo shook his head. "No, I'm going to call back to Virginia Beach and tell the NCIS Agent over there that she can have that little chat with Ash Spencer that she's been wanting to have for awhile."

"You're going to question my father?" Clay asked.

"Not a lot of things are adding up," Blackburn said. "And I think it's high time someone started asking him some questions."

* * *

NCIS Special Agent Jenna Cowan stood outside the restaurant that Ash Spencer had come out of with a woman that she didn't know the identity of and didn't really care to know if unless Ash started causing her problems. She knew the legend of Ash Spencer so there was a high probability that might happen. She also knew that her predecessor before he got an assignment in Japan, Special Agent Eddie Bell, wasn't too fond of Ash. She also knew this would be a hard questioning of Ash because she was instructed not to tell Ash why she was really here.

"Ash Spencer," she called out.

Ash and the mystery woman turned around. "Depends who's asking."

"NCIS," Jenna replied, knowing that would get Ash's attention. "We have some questions."

Ash kissed the woman on the cheek and walked over to Jenna. "What does NCIS want?"

"When was the last time you talked to either of your children?"

"This is what NCIS wants? You can subpoena my call records but I'm assuming you've already done so because you're standing here talking to me."

"When was the last time you spoke to either Clay or Kelsey?" Jenna repeated.

Ash shrugged. "I don't remember."

"Do I have to remember that lying to a federal agent is a crime, Ash? NCIS is a federal agency."

"I know."

She pulled out a surveillance photo from the file folder she was carrying from five weeks ago and put it on the hood of Ash's car. "You had drinks with your son five weeks ago at Bulkhead Bar. Five weeks ago, Spencer. What was the conversation about?"

"I called my daughter and couldn't get a hold of her. So I called her mother and Leah told me that my daughter had gotten married and I was pissed. I still wanted to talk to Kelsey and I knew Clay and Kelsey were closed so I asked Clay where she was. He said he didn't know."

Well that was pretty much Clay's version of events from what the JAG, Captain Marshall, had told her, who originally asked her to interview Ash. "That didn't strike you as odd that someone she was living with didn't know where she was?"

"Hell yeah it struck me as odd but I got enough out of him that she was overseas. I didn't push because that kid wouldn't give up her location. I called Leah again to see if she knew where Kelsey was Leah laughed, told me to fuck off and told me she was in Germany. I know my daughter sure as shit ain't in Germany."

Jenna sighed. "You called a Filipino phone number two weeks ago, why?"

Ash groaned and rolled his eyes. "23 years ago, a guy saved my life in a bar fight when I was off duty in the Philippines. He was 17. We've kept in touch, sometimes I've sent him money."

"23 years?"

"You can call Leah Wellington to verify my story." Ash lifted his shirt for good measure to show Jenna the scar from the bar fight.

Jenna rolled her eyes back at Ash but knew she was getting nowhere. Ash wouldn't voluntarily give up his ex as his alibi to his story of it weren't real. Captain Marshall had told her between the lines that Leah Wellington, Kelsey's mom, was more than she led on to everyone. "Look Ash, you're in the hot seat still. Both of your kids have leak investigations to their names because of the books you've published. Continue to expect to see me."

"Is this a regular interrogation I can expect to receive? Ambush me outside of a restaurant while my date has no idea where I am and why I'm talking to federal investigators?"

Jenna shrugged as she walked away but turned around. "Well shit, Spencer, maybe you should have thought about that before you made your kids the subject of leak investigations and I have to subpoena your phone records and email records every couple months to make sure you're on the up and up this time and your kids career's are on the right track."

"Tell NCIS they can subpoena away," Ash said before walking away. "I didn't leak."

And that's when Jenna knew she had a hard phone call to Afghanistan to make- Ash didn't have anything to do with being involved with Abin Atwal. Ash Spencer might be trained in the art of making things go away from his times in the SEALs but Jenna Cowan was trained as a NCIS Agent and trained to read people. Ash Spencer was only guilty of leaking classified material and making it look like his children had something to do with it. Ash had nothing to do with Abin Atwal or Kelsey's current predicament.

* * *

"What's the play?" Rodriguez asked Kelsey as they came closer to the village.

Kelsey trudged along with Eeyore. "Knock on a door. If no one answers then we announce we are US military."

Rodriguez raised an eyebrow. "Risky plan."

"You have one better?" She shot back.

"No."

So they knocked on the door of the third house they came across. It held a pen with another donkey inside. Looked okay to them. It had a pen that they could stash Eeyore in of worse came to worse anyways. Better than leaving him on the street. Kelsey had grown attached to the donkey.

A woman, dressed with makeup on, despite the hour which Kelsey assumed with was probably close to 5 am, opened the door. "Get inside," was all the woman said, as she looked around for others on the street. "Quickly."

Rodriguez quickly untied Keller from how he was tied onto Eeyore and left the donkey inside and walked into the modest house that they had no idea what you were walking into. "Ma'am," he said, cautiously.

"Who did this to you?" she asked. They were caked in blood and Keller looked straight out of a murder scene.

Kelsey looked at Rodriguez. "We'd rather not say, ma'am."

The woman took one look at the three of them and shook her head. "My name is Ismet," she introduced. She took a blanket and laid it on the floor. "Put him on the floor," she instructed Rodriguez.

"Ma'am," Kelsey asked.

"I am a nurse, I received my training in Lahore," Ismet said. She looked at Keller and shook his head and stood up. "You need to get him to an American hospital right away or he will die."

Kelsey and Rodriguez exchanged a look. "That's why we came here," was all Rodriguez said.

Ismet thrust a phone in Kelsey's hand. "You call the American military and get them to come get you, fast."

Kelsey took her phone and dialed number which she had memorized to the satellite phone belonging to one CIA Officer Mandy Ellis and prayed to God she answered. And she did.

"Hello?"

"It's your favorite missing person," Kelsey said.

"KELSEY?!" Mandy exclaimed. "Are you safe? Where are you?"

"I need an immediate MEDEVAC for Keller," Kelsey said. She closed the receiver mouth and mouthed to Ismet, "where are we?"

"Miran Shah," Ismet replied.

"We are in Miran Shah, Pakistan," Kelsey said.

Mandy breathed a sigh of relief. "Jason, Ray and Scott are on their way to get you right now, Kels. A MEDEVAC will be launched within 5 minutes and will be there within 20."

"There's a field about 250 yards from the house that's a good landing spot. No tangos that I can see; local time is around 4:45 am and it's going home time."

"I have the GPS coordinates from the phone you are calling from," Mandy confirmed. "I am passing this information on to Jason. It's good to hear your voice."

"Good to hear yours. I'm hanging up, I'll see you soon."

Kelsey hung up the phone and passed the phone back Ismet with shaky hands. They were going home. She squeezed Rodriguez's hand with her good one and he squeezed back. Their nightmare was almost over.

5 minutes later she could here the distinct sound of a helicopter and before she knew it, Ray Perry was at Ismet's door and all she could do was run to him. He held her for a minute and let her try not to cry. "Let's go home." She didn't even notice Jason and Full Metal come into the house.

Jason turned to Ismet. "Thank you for keeping them safe," he said in a quieter voice than Kelsey had ever heard him speak before. He pointed to Full Metal. "He's going to stay here with the injured man and he'll board the MEDEVAC with him. We're going to take these two jokers with us. Is that okay? MEDEVAC should be here within 15 minutes."

Ismet smiled. "That is perfectly fine."

Kelsey took one last look at Ismet before leaving. "The donkey's all yours to keep. I called him Eeyore."

"God be with you," Ismet replied.

"Thank you again."

They boarded the helo and not much was said as they strapped in to head for the Afghanistan border and the lovely Afghan airspace. She saw how small the helo was and why nobody fought her on her MEDEVAC request. Jason handed her an earpiece and she took it.

"Lady and Gentleman, we have reached the lovely Afghan airspace. Don't make us do this again," Lt. Levi Hale said, laughing into the cockpit but they could all hear him. "We should be landing at Salerno in 7 mikes."

In her earpiece she could hear talking. "Base, this is I don't have a call sign. Keller is loaded in the MEDEVAC and we gone," the voice said.

She looked at Jason. "That sounded a lot like my husband's voice. Is my husband on that MEDEVAC?"

"And Clay."

Kelsey started to talk and then closed her mouth. "I don't want to know."

Ray shook his head. "You don't want to know."

"It's really great to see you guys by the way," Kelsey commented.

Rodriguez nodded. "I concur."

"The feeling is mutual," Ray replied. "There's a lot of people who may have screamed a little when Mandy got that phone call."

"I never did think memorizing the number to a satellite phone would come in handy."

"Until it did," Jason replied. "You've done good, kid. You've done good."

* * *

Blackburn, Mandy and General Bennett remained in the tent at Salerno, breathing a huge sigh of relief that the mission had gone off without any huge trouble. As soon as Kelsey asked for the MEDEVAC, Bennett told Clay and Patrick to get in the helo for fire support if the locals started getting suspicious about a second helo landing so closely. Not a single shot was fired.

"Couldn't have gone better," Blackburn said.

And then the tent door opened up to CIA Officer Leah Wellington. "It couldn't have. But I am sure there's still questions on the why."

"Who are you?" Bennett asked.

"She's CIA," Blackburn said. "CIA Officer Leah Wellington meet Brigadier General James Bennett. She's also Lt. Vanderhoek's mom. And no, Lt. Vanderhoek does not know her mom is CIA."

Leah shook Bennett's hand. "Actually former CIA. I turned in my resignation about an hour ago."

"Before or after you used CIA resources to get to a remote base in Afghanistan?" Mandy asked.

Leah shrugged. "Does it matter? And I didn't use CIA resources. Has anyone forgotten that Mossad pretty much owns my ass right now?"

"Why are you here?" Mandy asked.

"This was a botched CIA mission. Ash Spencer had nothing to do with Kelsey's disappearance."

Bennett's mouth dropped open and not much made that happen these days. "Botched CIA op? Excuse me?"

"That Yemen op? That was another botched CIA op; not Mandy's fault but another botched CIA op."

Blackburn just blinked. "How do you know this?"

"Someone high above mine and Mandy's pay grade really wants Abin Atwal gone high I mean, is a good thing. The man should be dead. But said person high in the food chain doesn't really know how about doing it, evidently."

Mandy also just blinked. "Is Mossad spying on the CIA?"

Leah shrugged, noncommittally. "Is that even a question?"

Bennett paced the room. "Can we get back to how this was a botched CIA op? I can believe it but I'm having a hard time connecting the dots."

"The CIA knew Abin Atwal was in Afghanistan and they knew Atwal knew it was a Tier 1 team that tried to take him out in Yemen. They couldn't really pin down his whereabouts and they were getting pissed. So they created a fake op for Marine Intel to approve and Fall to get his hands on. I don't know if there was money exchanged to get Fall to get Kelsey to go on this little excursion or not. Regardless, the CIA dangled Kelsey as bait to Atwal. There was a Special Activities Division officer by the name of Anne who was on base for awhile which doesn't make a whole pile of sense considering SAD base is twenty miles as the crow flies. Anne cut the fuel line of the Humvee. She made sure that Fall gave my daughter those exact keys to the Humvee. The plan was for Kelsey to run out of fuel at the intel spot she was supposed to get to. There would be a firefight but the building there would give her and her men enough cover and CIA SAD would swoop in and make sure they were alright. Anne fucked up cutting the fuel line. Somewhere along the line, SAD didn't have the Humvee under ISR and just expected them to show up at the empty recon site. Atwal was waiting for everything to go down."

There was silence in the room as her words were spoken and sunk in. Finally Bennett spoke. "That's one hell of a theory. You don't suppose you have proof?"

Leah raised an eyebrow. "Some. Pretty damning what I have."

"I don't suppose you'd be interested in testifying in front of a closed door senate intelligence committee on this matter considering there's one dead Marine," Bennett said.

The door opened and Clay walked in. The MEDEVAC must have landed. "Make that two dead Marines. Keller didn't make it. Coded on the flight and they are trying everything they can at the clinic but he won't make it."

"Fuck," Blackburn said.

"Offer is still there," Bennett said.

Leah sighed. "I'll think about it."

Clay finally recognized who the other woman in the room besides Mandy was. "What the flying fuck are you doing in Afghanistan?"

Leah looked at her daughter's half brother in the eye. "Stirring the pot as usual."

What nobody expected was for Kelsey, Patrick and Jason to come walking into that tent next. "What the fuck," was the only thing Kelsey said as she stood in the doorway of the tent.

Clay looked between Leah and then Kelsey. "Sorry, Kels," was all her brother said.

Kelsey bit her lip. "I know I'm supposed to be in the clinic right now but they are still dealing with Keller and I can't really go back over there and deal with that shit and technically I can still walk and really, casts can wait. So my main question right now is what the flying fuck is my fucking mother doing in a tent in mother fucking goddamn Afghanistan right fucking now?"

Patrick looked at his wife and back at his mother-in-law. "I share her sentiments. What the fuck, Leah?"

Kelsey looked around the room. "Nobody's said a damn thing so I guess I'll come out and say it. Are you fucking CIA, mom?"

"Well…"

"Yes or no. It isn't a fucking trick question."

Leah sighed. "Yes."

"Huh. Does Jon know?'

"He does now."

"I heard that word now. Wow. I always had my suspicions of your cover stories but CIA? Wow. I think I'll go get those casts now," Kelsey replied and walked, well more like hobbled out of the tent. Her husband followed.

Patrick and Kelsey walked into the clinic where Lt. Brittany Howell was waiting for them. "I need to see her alone," Brittany said.

"Just a minute," Kelsey replied.

Patrick held Kelsey in a strong embrace for a good solid 5 minutes, either of them not saying a word. He had to catch a ride to Bagram and then back to Kandahar in 15 minutes. Blackburn had personally called Watt and told him everything that had gone down and Watt was thankful for the call but said he needed his man back now that Kelsey was back.

"What's next?" Patrick asked.

"I'm assuming a ride home to the US. Either with Clay and his team or an actual medical transport; I'm not sure. I really don't know, Patrick."

"And probably new orders?"

She shrugged and looked at her husband. "Maybe. Who knows with the powers that be. One thing that I know is I'll be calling your mom to come take care of me once I'm in the US again. A cast on my hand and probably foot is not going to be fun."

Patrick kissed her forehead. "My mother will absolutely love to. Wherever you end up, she will drop everything and come take care of you."

"I know," Kelsey said. "This sucks though. This really sucks."

"We'll get through it," Patrick reply. "Deployments, your mom, your injuries, new orders. We will get through it."

"I love you," Kelsey told her husband.

"I love you even more," he said and gave her long kiss before finally pulling back. "Watt's going to mark me UA if I don't get on that plane right now."

She wiped a little tear from her eye. "Probably. Stay safe. Watch your six."

Patrick turned to leave the clinic. "Same to you. I love you, Kels."

* * *

In the end, Kelsey and Rodriguez ended up getting a flight with the boys back to the US. They'd be making a stop at Dover Air Force Base, with the two bodies of Bauer and Keller. From Dover, a helo would take Kelsey and Rodriguez to Walter Reed. Normally they would stop at Andrews but because of the bodies, the pilots elected to make one stop and everyone was fine with that.

Brittany, although not an orthopaedic surgeon, suspected Kelsey might need surgery on her foot, and her fingers would probably need to be re-xrayed and possibly re-broken to make sure they were healing fine. Rodriguez came out of the whole thing relatively unscathed but the military still wanted him to go to Walter Reed to get fully checked out and go to psychiatry appointments before they put him back on active duty.

Normally only Tier 1 guys got hammocks on long flights but they passed a unanimous vote that given Kelsey's injuries, she could have one on the flight back. She appreciated it. Clay had fallen asleep but he was awake now. "You awake?"

"Hard not to be," she muttered.

"Trent has more of those pain pills your roommate prescribed."

"I'll be fine for now," she said, burrowing her head farther into the pillow.

He sighed. "Want to talk about it?"

She sat up a little bit. "Bennett gave me new orders."

"Oh?"

"Hope you can handle me living with you again."

Clay moved the hammock to get a better look at his sister's face. "You fucking with me? Because that's great news."

She shrugged. "It's only for 18 weeks. Officially he moved the NJP to a local and I'm PCS'ing to 3-3 as the XO of the command. However, before that happens, I am TAD to counterintelligence school at Dam Neck."

"3-3?" Clay asked. "Where's that?"

"Hawaii."

He raised his eyebrow. "Not where your husband is."

"Nope. Bennett said it was a six month posting. Basically I think I can pin 1st Lieutenant in two months and then I take over as XO for six months and then I'm assuming they want me to go to SERE school and some other schools and then I can pin Captain."

Clay took her hand. "I'm so glad Bennett got you out of 1-1 and that toxicity. Even if Fall ends up getting a bunch of UCMJ charges that place was horrible."

"I know, I'm glad even though I won't be at Pendleton anymore. You okay with me crashing with you again?"

Clay smiled. "Absolutely. It will just be like old times."

* * *

 **AN: not entirely sure if I'm going to end the story there although there's definitely some more ideas floating in my head...**


	17. Chapter 17

Two months later, Sonny glared at Clay as they stood outside in Virginia Beach. He leaned over and whispered, "if she thinks I'm going to salute her, she's fucking delusional."

Clay lifted an eyebrow. "I think she'll make sure you have to salute her." He looked at his sister, at the front, as it was her day and got a smirk on his face. Knowing Kelsey, she would make damn sure that Sonny saluted her as she didn't give a shit about rank when she was around the Team usually but with the amount of eyes on them, Sonny would have to salute an officer.

Kelsey hadn't been told really the full deal of her ceremony. Captain Lindell, of all people, had showed up on their doorstep three nights prior, and requested her to be in uniform of the day, which was her MARPAT cammies and made a special request for the Senator and Michelle to be there. That wasn't a hard request as Michelle had spent the good first month after Walter Reed in Virginia Beach, taking care of Kelsey has Clay had been in Somalia for over three weeks and Sloane was working full time. Kelsey had no idea what she would have done without Patrick's mom, so when Captain Lindell asked for the father and mother-in-law to be there, all it took was one phone call to Dan's chief of staff.

Blackburn ordered everyone in attendance to attention, which was quite a few people. All support teams, as well as Alpha and Bravo, were in attendance. Promotion ceremonies within the teams were handled pretty quietly so everyone was wondering what was up.

"Two months ago, in a classified operation, Bravo Team rescued two Marines' from Pakistan. We have been informed that Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek and Corporal Luis Rodriguez have been awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V as well as Lt. Vanderhoek being awarded the Purple Heart for their extreme bravery under the worst conditions that some of you have experienced. While it is customary to do it within their chain of commands, the powers that be have decided that since the SEALs pulled them out of Pakistan, it should be us giving them their much deserved awards," Captain Lindell explained. Bravo knew it was because Kelsey didn't have a real chain of command right now. "Commander Blackburn, will you please have the honor of pinning Corporal Rodriguez?"

Kelsey had been shocked to see her battle buddy at Dam Neck earlier that morning and that's when she got her indication of what was going on. Rodriguez snapped to attention and saluted Blackburn and then smiled for the obligatory pictures of getting his Bronze Star before returning to his seat.

"Lt. Vanderhoek," Blackburn said.

She tried her hardest to stand to attention and salute him, although that was hard with the walking boot still on her left foot.

"It's my honor to give you this," Blackburn said.

"Thank you, sir," Kelsey said, as Blackburn pinned the two medals to her chest. She tried hard to keep a straight face the entire time. She was about to do a tight 180 and walk back to her chair when he stopped her.

"That's not the only reason you are here. A little birdie, I mean Ensign Davis, might have been scrolling through the list that the Marine Corps put up of promotable 2nd Lieutenants," Blackburn said. "We typically don't make promotions a big deal around here," a chuckle made its way through the crowd. "But given today, we are going to have a promotion ceremony. So it's my honor to call up your brother and your mother-in-law, Michelle Shanahan, to pin you to 1st Lieutenant."

Blackburn handed them the dark bars for 1st Lieutenant as they both took off the gold "butter bars" and instead pinned the bars for 1st Lieutenant. Again, Kelsey had a hard time not smiling and keeping a straight face as some of the most important people in her life were pinning her. Obviously Blackburn and Lindell knew what they were doing when they asked Michelle and Clay to do it.

After Clay returned to formation and Michelle returned to her seat, Blackburn turned his attention to her. "I was going to have you raise your right hand but since we are making a big deal out of your promotion; Senator Shanahan would you mind giving your daughter-in-law her promotion oath of office?"

It was clear that wasn't part of the script because Dan chuckled but came up quickly. "It would be my pleasure," he said, facing Kelsey. "Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

"I, Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek, do solemnly swear that I will support and defence the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

"That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."

"That I will bear true faith and allegiance to do the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."

"And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

"And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

"Congratulations, Lieutenant," Dan said, shaking her hand after she was done and then completely throwing all protocol out the window, giving her a quick hug. It was a damn good moment, Kelsey decided. For not being a photo person, she silently hoped someone got a photo of it. It was pretty damn cool to have her father-in-law read her her first promotion oath of office to 1st Lieutenant, have her mother-in-law and brother pin her and her brother's commanding officer hand her the two awards she had gotten.

Kelsey was returning to her and Clay's apartment later that day to change out of her uniform and meet Dan and Michelle for dinner. They would all go out for drinks later, Dan said he'd pay for a round or two, in which Bravo was more than willing to hit up Bulkhead. She did manage to get Sonny to salute her, much to her dismay. Everyone laughed. She opened the door and almost dropped her keys. It wasn't her husband sitting on her couch, but almost the next best thing- Victoria.

2nd Lt. Victoria Thompson just smiled as she stood up from the couch. "Surprised?"

Kelsey dropped her bags and hobbled over to the living room as fast as she could to give her best friend a hug. "More than surprised. Two nights ago you practically couldn't get off FaceTime quick enough because you said you had to pack because you were running flight ops for two weeks of some carrier."

Victoria shrugged. "I lied. Clay had texted me about 10 minutes before that FaceTime."

Kelsey's jaw dropped. "My brother?"

"Sometimes he can surprise us all," Victoria replied, as Clay and Sloane walked through the door next.

"Thanks," Kelsey said to her brother as he put his own keys on the table. "But you're a bastard. I'm assuming my lovely in-laws know as well?"

Sloane smiled. "They do."

"You guys successfully orchestrated one hell of a surprise, that's for sure."

Clay gave his sister and then Victoria a hug. "I'm just glad it all worked out. Sloane and I are going out for dinner with some of her friends and then we'll meet up with you at Bulkhead tonight."

"Sounds good. I told Michelle I'd be at the restaurant in half hour."

As Kelsey put a little bit of makeup on and Victoria laughed at her attempt to do so, her friend looked down at her left hand. "You're wearing your rings," Victoria commented. Normally Kelsey wore a simple silicone band since her and Patrick had gotten married. She had said more than once that she didn't know why they spent the money on actual rings- even though she really did like both of them. And she had also said she didn't know why she had two rings really- they had been engaged a day before deciding to get married.

"Yeah, why?"

"You left them in Oceanside and I know you sure as hell didn't take them to Afghanistan and I think I'd know about a little side trip to California given the fireworks it would cause," Victoria pointed out.

Kelsey raised her eyebrows. "You've met my mother-in-law. And from being a Colonel's wife for 20 years she knows how to get shit done within the military. I was still in surgery at Walter Reed when she called Jon and then called the movers and had my shit shipped to the house in Alexandria. Rings, uniforms, everything is now at their house. Some of it has migrated here but the majority of it is there. I don't have much anyways since Lord knows my mom and I moved so much that I learned not to keep a lot."

Victoria looked surprised. "Wow. That is impressive. What did Jon say when Michelle called him?"

"Well Michelle called him under the auspice that it would be easier to have my stuff shipped to Virginia now that they are in Alexandria, Clay is in Virginia Beach and any future Intel schools would either be in D.C. or here in Dam Neck. She also told him that I got transferred out of 1-1 and Pendleton but she didn't tell him my new orders."

"Your step-dad has to have some feelings about that," Victoria commented.

Kelsey shrugged. "Probably. Still haven't gotten there yet in my issues to talk to him."

"Have they made you see a psychologist on base given everything that transpired in Afghanistan?" Victoria asked as they started to get ready to leave the apartment.

"I saw one for a session or two at Walter Reed which was the minimum I had to. Still working through the issues."

* * *

Kelsey was in her first week of classes at Counterintelligence school when things came crashing back down on her. In a very real way. Some how Brigadier General Bennett knew that her convalescence leave worked out perfectly from the time she had surgery on her foot to when she started- she only had 2 weeks left in her walking boot and then she could get it off. And that couldn't come soon enough. It was driving her crazy- even more than the first time around of having a walking boot. Typically con leave was only for 30 days but because she had been "hospitalized" twice, she was able to extend it to 45 days, which is exactly when CI school started.

She was rounding the corner, heading to her car when she saluted a Lt. Commander. And then she saw someone she didn't want to see but was expecting to see. NCIS. "Ma'am," she said, cautiously.

"NCIS Special Agent Jenna Cowan. Can we talk?"

Kelsey laughed. She could think of a few things NCIS could or would want to talk to her about. "About what?"

"Can we go inside and talk?"

"Or?"

"We have a conversation at NCIS offices at Norfolk."

That told Kelsey that this was a demand, not an ask. So this was either about a leak investigation, but she also highly doubted that because Clay had yet to be approached. So that left NCIS poking around about Captain Fall, the JAG investigation and Afghanistan. "I'll talk, but not without legal representation."

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "Do you have something to hide Lt. Vanderhoek?"

"Nope. I just know better. So either you can fly Captain Jonah Marshall back from Afghanistan to be my JAG representation or you can wait 24 hours and I will get ahold of my civilian attorney."

Jenna shook her head. "We talk now."

"All I will divulge is my rank, name and serial number until I see the legal representation of my choice in the room. It's my fucking right, Agent Cowan."

The NCIS Agent handed over a card. "Here's my number. You or your lawyer call me. If I don't hear from you in 24 hours, I'll arrest you for obstruction."

Kelsey took the card but rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

It wasn't until later that night, after the gym and telling Sloane she just wasn't feeling well and that's why she could barely lift anything, that she realized why she was shaking. Agent Cowan's appearance was bringing up a whole host of memories of Afghanistan that she didn't want to deal with.

She found herself not driving to her and Clay's apartment, but instead to Ray and Naima's house. She didn't know why, but she knew she needed the advice from the Bravo 2IC.

Naima opened the door to see Kelsey in uniform, as she had worked out in uniform, at her doorstep, walking boot still on. "You look like hell, Lieutenant. It's 20:00, what are you still doing in uniform."

"I don't know," she replied honestly. Sloane asked her the same but her response was pretty short- she couldn't lift heavy anyways so she was too lazy to change into workout clothes.

Naima opened the door more. "Come in. Have you had dinner?"

Kelsey shook her head. "No. I'm good though."

"Good Lord, child," Naima shot back. "Homemade chicken noodle soup okay? Jameelah was sick the other day so I made some."

"Naima, I'm fine. Really."

Naima immediately went to the kitchen. "You came here, you're eating. End of story. Sit down."

Kelsey did as she was instructed. "Are you just going to work?"

"In an hour or so. I try and not work nights too much but with you guys stood down right now, it's a lot easier."

Ray came into the kitchen with an odd look on her face. "Babe, she's not Bravo."

Naima gave her husband a look that said he should probably shut up and he wisely did. She placed a bowl of soup in front of Kelsey at the kitchen table. "Eat. Talk to Ray and get whatever is off your chest."

Ray was silent as Kelsey dug into her soup. Finally he spoke. "I didn't know you knew where I lived."

"You had a barbeque here once. Or shall I say, you and Naima hosted a barbeque."

Ray nodded. "That explains how you found your way here but not why you are here in my kitchen, eating my leftover soup."

"NCIS fucking sucks," was all she said.

"What is NCIS poking around about right now," Ray asked, inquisitively.

Kelsey put more soup in her mouth. "I dunno. I refused to answer their questions without my lawyer present."

"I bet they were thrilled with that."

"Beyond."

As Kelsey's sat there, quietly finishing her soup, Ray's warning bells and flashing lights went off his head and he figured out why she was here at his kitchen table, eating his soup. He had a few questions though. "Why not talk about this with your brother? That's the one question I've been wondering. I know you came to me when you were in Afghanistan but everything is in the open now."

Kelsey stood up and put her dishes in Naima's dishwasher. "Different points of view. Clay and I think a lot alike when it comes to this sort of stuff. He's a little more reactionary but we think a lot alike."

Ray seemed to take that as a reasonable answer. "Your brother was pissed when I brought on a new guy instead of his friend. I brought Vic on because he thinks opposite to Clay and Jason and a little more like me."

"I can appreciate that. Why do you think I married my husband? Other than the fact that he's the only man who will ever okay with his wife being more badass than him? He keeps me grounded. I could never marry someone who has mine or Clay's attitude because it would be a disaster."

"This is obviously about NCIS poking around about Afghanistan and something has you rattled."

Kelsey sat back on the couch that Ray showed her to. "The debrief I was given at Walter Reed."

"The Corps debriefed you at Walter Reed?"

"No. Defense Intelligence Agency with an JAG who was an Army Major with the necessary security clearance in the room. It centered around my AAR that Jason made me write."

"That one."

"The one that the DIA Agent said 'came from a place of pissed off, frustration, anger and was not to be taken lightly or to be taken at all.' His words, not mine. That fucking debrief was almost worse than the fucking torture I went through in Afghanistan."

Ray rubbed his chin. "You never said what happened in there."

"What do you think happened, Ray? Besides the fact that I didn't get raped which is something the DIA Agent spent a lot of time on until the very nice Army guy told him to back off. What do you think happens in the house of horrors."

Ray tried to think of the next thing to say. "Never been held captive for longer than 3 hours."

"So do I have the worst luck on planet earth that I'm in country for 5 weeks and get captured and then tortured or are you just extremely lucky?"

He pondered that question. "I think you got sold out by your commanding officer and the CIA."

"The next questions will be from JAG and a request for me to stand as a witness at Fall's trial."

"Fall still hasn't gone to trial? Court-martials usually don't take that long?" Ray asked.

Kelsey shrugged. "A lot of this information is highly classified and most of the major players are either dead, still in Afghanistan or not allowed to talk. Making it a hard case for JAG to prosecute."

"Do you think he'll be prosecuted?"

"Captain Marshall would not have recommend any of those charges if he didn't think it had a chance of sticking. I don't actually know what JAG charged him with. Don't want to know."

"Interesting that you don't want to know."

"Coping mechanism."

"Have you talked to your husband lately?"

Kelsey sighed and looked at Ray's TV that was muted but was playing Paw Patrol. "My husband is a special forces guy. I don't expect to talk to him when he's outside the wire, which he has been for the past while, and certainly don't expect to talk about the shit that's going on in my head when I can talk to him."

"I think he'd appreciate talking to you."

She gave Bravo 2IC a dirty look. "You've been out of communication for weeks from Naima. Can you honestly say that you would want to hear about torture from your wife the time that you can contact her? I'm the spouse at home, I'm the one who's supposed to have shit together, Ray. If anything, I should be listening to him when he can contact me."

Ray understood what he was saying. She was in such a hard position because he got her side too, as an operator which she was essentially, it was really important to talk to the person you trusted and loved which was her husband. And the fact that she couldn't made it really hard. "You're in a rock and a hard place with that one, kiddo. But I think you should let Patrick know a little what's going on at home. Don't pretend it's all puppies and rainbows going on at home."

"He's not an idiot, he'll guess."

"Maybe talk to the other Spencer too."

Kelsey buried her hands in her face. "Sloane is pretty fucking perceptive and she's giving me those looks of maybe something isn't alright and as you said, maybe my life isn't all puppies and unicorns as I'm pretending."

"So, talk to her. From the bit I've met of Clay's girlfriend, she has a good head on her shoulders, she can handle you unloading on her and she's done a tour in the sandbox. She herself isn't immune to the horrors."

She groaned. "The CIA made this thing so classified it isn't funny. That's the problem. I'm talking about it with you because you were there. You saw the intelligence. You saw Fall in his element. Sloane knew I went missing, she was there when Briggs called Jason from what Clay told me. Past that, no one has told her anything. Because it's been fucking classified."

"Well that did she say when you had surgery at Walter Reed and you've been staying in the apartment?"

"To me, nothing. Michelle drove me home to the apartment and there were fresh sheets on my bed. I don't know what my brother told her."

Ray sighed. "While I am completely fine with you coming by to vent and talk things through because you need to and you are more than welcome here. I think you need to find a psychologist on base with the necessary security clearance to help you out. If you want, I can do some digging and find out who some of the guys may or may not talk to."

"I'd appreciate that. I thought about going to see someone off base but then I realized I can't because of the security reasons. That and I don't think dealing with torture and the after effects is someone they are well versed in."

"Go talk to someone," Ray said.

Kelsey stood up. "I appreciate you listening."

Naima came in from the hallway. "From a special operator's wife to another, tell your husband what's going on. He'll appreciate it."

"I will, next time I talk to him."

Ray paused as Kelsey got to the door. "Where the hell is Recon operating?"

"When he showed up at Salerno when I was taken, he alluded to Clay about operating in a country that he wasn't allowed to operate in. My guess is one of the other 'stan countries."

As Kelsey reached for the door, Naima spoke again. "You're always welcome here, Kelsey. To talk, to sleep, whatever you need. You're family to Bravo."

"Thanks Naima, I appreciate it."

Kelsey had a bad habit of keeping her phone on loud all the time, except for when she was in class now. And when her phone went off at 4 am, she reached for it. Her first thought was that Victoria had met a guy in a bar and she was calling Kelsey to tell her about that. And if that was the case, it was a now Thursday morning and she was going to kill her best friend.

What wasn't her best friend, was her husband asking for a facetime call.

"Hello," she answered groggily as she pressed okay for the FaceTime call.

"Jesus, what time is it there? And where are you?"

Kelsey laughed and looked at her clock on her bed stand. "4:12 a.m. I'm in my bed in Virginia Beach."

"Oh shit," Patrick said.

Kelsey turned on her lamp. "No, I'm glad you called."

"I just got back from a long term mission," Patrick subbed and rubbed the full beard he had going.

Kelsey laughed in the semi-dark room. "I can tell. I've never seen you with a full beard."

"I can't wait to shave," Patrick muttered. "I don't think I've not shaved this long."

"I like it."

Patrick rubbed his face again. "How are you?"

"It's going. I get the boot off in two weeks."

Patrick stared at the phone into the FaceTime. They might have only been married a short time, and been apart for most of it but he knew his wife. His wife never used the words 'it's going' when it wasn't absolutely going horrible. If anything, she said it was going fine all the time. "Kels," he began to say.

"Babe, I don't know to do this," she said.

And that's when he knew his wife was really struggling. They were not overly affectionate, certainly not with their words. She had made the first move while they were 2nd Lieutenants at The Basic School and she had told him when they first started 'dating' that she hated saying those three words of I love you. She still wasn't very physically affectionate in public either when they were together. Patrick could count on one hand how many times she had called him 'babe'. "What's going on?"

"One word that covers it all: deployment."

Patrick looked around and then back at the phone. "Yeah, I guess that does sum all of our problems up. Have you talked to anyone."

"Ray's going to ask around his side of base for a psychologist that some of the guys have talked to that has the clearance to talk to."

He sighed. And then changed the subject. "Christmas in two weeks. Where are you going this year?" Last year, they were butter bars at TBS together and barely knew each other. She had spent Christmas in California.

"I think I'm going to Pensacola."

"What the fuck is in Florida?" Patrick asked.

Kelsey had to remind himself that her husband had just come from a three week mission and wasn't really thinking clearly. "Victoria. She doesn't want to go to butt fucking nowhere Nevada so Christmas in the sun sounds not bad."

Patrick groaned. "Fuck, Kels. Call Mom. Spend Christmas with the family. Bring Victoria."

"I'm not spending Christmas with my in-laws without you there," Kelsey shot back.

Patrick rolled his eyes. "Did you forget who took care of your ass while you recovered from surgery? Mom. Fucking call her and spend Christmas there. It won't be as warm but come on. Please."

"Fine, I'll call your mom."

Patrick rubbed that beard again. "I gotta go write some after action reports. You were my first thing on my mind after I stepped off the helo."

"Thanks for calling me. I love you."

"Love you too."

Kelsey looked at her phone, 4:28 a.m., and decided to just get up. She made her way to the kitchen and started making a full breakfast. Thank God for Sloane, they had groceries, so she decided to make pancakes and bacon. At 4:45 in the morning.

Shortly after she started cooking, she heard the bedroom door open and heard Clay walk into the kitchen. "What the fuck are you doing making pancakes and bacon at 4:45 in the morning?"

"Long story."

"Seriously? What the fuck is making you cook at before 5 in the fucking morning Kels?" Clay asked, in basketball shorts and no shirt on, leaning on the door frame.

Kelsey flipped some bacon than finally answered. "My husband can apparently grow a decent beard."

Clay finally approached her. "He called?"

"About half hour ago. I decided to just get up. Sorry for waking you."

Clay shrugged. "Sloane kept rolling around so I didn't get a good night sleep anyways."

"Being deployed was easier. Being deployed together was a hell of a lot easier."

Clay sighed. "I agree, being deployed is a lot easier than being home. But that is not the problem here."

"No, it isn't. The problem here is that nobody understands how it is to be quote on quote a special operator while also having a spouse deployed. I'm getting advice from all sides and quite frankly, all of it sucks."

Clay smiled. "Nobody knows your relationship except you."

"Patrick brought up an interesting point. What are you doing for Christmas? It's in two weeks and we haven't talked about it."

"We haven't booked flights but Sloane and I are going to Sioux Falls."

She raised an eyebrow. "For a girl you aren't dating, you sure about spending Christmas with her family?"

He glared at her about her bringing up his relationship status.. "And what are you doing?"

"I was going to get on a Space-A and spend it in the sun in Pensacola because Tori doesn't want to go to Ely for Christmas with her family."

"Where's Ely?"

"Middle of nowhere, Nevada. 3 hours from Vegas. But my husband put a stop to that. And is making me call Michelle. So I am passing on the inevitable invitation to spend it in Virginia with your basically family."

Clay took a piece of bacon. "Why'd Patrick put a stop to you going to Pensacola? Does he not trust you?"

Kelsey glared at him for taking the piece of bacon. "No, you idiot. He thinks I should be with family instead of on a beach alone with Tori, drinking our sorrows away. Which honestly, sounds like an awesome idea."

Clay pondered that. "I'll mention Virginia to Sloane. She's not crazy about South Dakota. Hey, isn't Parker getting back from his cruise right before Christmas?" Cruise meaning a boat ride on a Navy ship which was no one's idea of a fun cruise. Navy Lt. Matt Parker was on a two month deployment to Australia and then taking a lovely boat ride back to Norfolk.

"I feel like a horrible friend for forgetting that, but yeah. I guess I should mention to Michelle that he's coming considering he has no family."

"Parker has no family?" Clay asked.

"He has a brother he somewhat talks to but when he came out and started dating his last boyfriend, I forget that piece of shits name, his parents disowned him."

Clay just shook his head. He thought Parker was actually a really cool guy but Clay always felt that Parker never should have been a logistics officer and should have been sent straight to Great Lakes to train recruits- he was that type of Navy Officer. "You sure Michelle is going to be okay with us crashing Christmas?"

"She was a Colonels' wife. I'm sure this is just another Sunday."

"Are you going to the gym this morning?" Clay asked. "I'll go with you if you are; to remind you that you are on limited duty."

She shook her head. "Nope. I'm meeting my lawyer for breakfast, which come to think of it, I should text him and change that considering I'm already having breakfast and then going to NCIS at Norfolk."

Clay looked at her wide eyed. "You called Mickey Crawford?" Mickey Crawford was a hot shot defense attorney that typically took on defense contractors and the likes as clients.

"Dan said I could; he's paying the bills. I wanted Captain Marshall but apparently that is a no go getting him to fly back from Salerno to be my legal representation."

"Does NCIS know who your lawyer is?"

"Nope. I just texted the special agent in charge that I would be at Norfolk offices at 8 am, whether she liked it or not. She threatened me with obstruction if I didn't show up today."

"Sounds like a peach. Am I going to get a visit?"

She shrugged. "I think it's about Fall, not about the leak investigation. I'm not sure why she's asking. Everything is in the debrief I gave the DIA Agent at Walter Reed."

"Wanna bet that debrief has been classified? NCIS wants to bury Fall and you do too so cooperate," Clay reminded.

"Oh I'll cooperate," Kelsey said. "Anything to bring Fall down." She took the pancakes off the frying pan. "Eat up."

* * *

Christmas was an event and a half. It ended up being Kelsey, Victoria, Matt Parker, Clay, Sloane, Carley and her boyfriend, Dan's bodyguard Lopez and Lopez's son, Manuel, who happened to be an Air Force Staff Sergeant stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, along with Dan and Michelle. A full bowl alphabet soup of the military- all they were missing was the Coast Guard representation. Even Lopez was a former Marine. Michelle laid down the law and said no military talk unless there was a terrorist attack or someone got new orders, which was highly unlikely given it was Christmas. And they pretty much stuck to that. And it was some of the best times Kelsey and Clay had ever had. She just wished her husband was there but she was pretty damn thankful for his insistence that she and Victoria not drink their sorrows away on a beach in Pensacola and instead come to Arlington.

Kelsey was doing homework around 6 pm, in the lounge, of her side of the base at Dam Neck five days after New Years. She was also trying to avoid NCIS Agent Jenna Cowan, who she knew was looking for her. Jenna was going to tell her that she was going to be a witness for Captain Fall's trial and Kelsey wanted nothing to do with reliving that, despite wanting Fall to go down. Lt. Matt Parker had come by to bug her and stayed, on his phone until she was done. He was a logistics officer for a Carrier Strike Group at NAS Oceana, so they worked on the same base; just different sides of it. And then Clay walked in.

"Squids usually don't come to this side," Matt commented, noting Clay in uniform.

Clay shrugged. "You're a fucking squid, Parker. But I know. I feel slightly dirty being over here but I need my sister. And she wasn't answering her phone."

"It's on do not disturb," she answered, no apology in her voice. "What's up? Did you track me?"

He held up his phone with his "find my friends" app open. They also were on the same phone plan, in the interest of saving money, so he could track her from there. "Yeah. I need you in the ops room."

"Ops room?" she repeated.

Matt stood up. "You have fun with that one."

Kelsey slowly stood up and nodded her goodbye at Matt and then followed her brother slowly to his side of the base. They put their phones in a cubby before entering the secure area. "What's going on?" she finally asked.

Blackburn nodded his hello at her. "How well do you speak Dutch?"

"It's my first language so fluently."

"Naval Intelligence has asked for you for an op," Davis explained.

Kelsey looked at her brother and then Davis. "Why me?"

"Because you're young, hot and can speak the language they need," Davis said.

"Okay, I'll buy that even though I dislike being used as a pawn like that but I guess I have to look forward to that my whole career. But what I'm curious is if Naval Intelligence is involved and they got MCIA to loan me out, why are you guys briefing me?"

Blackburn sighed. "Because what they need out of Rottherdam is important enough and they need someone to babysit you so the powers that be decided that a Tier 1 team should be the one to do it."

"So I'm doing the talking but I'm talking muscle with me?"

Davis laughed. "Yeah."

"Do I get to pick?"

Blackburn shook his head. "No," and there was chuckles around the room, however, none of them knew who was going to Holland.

Davis sighed. "Jason is staying home and you are not being partnered with your brother. Despite how well you two probably work together, we are not putting you two in the field together for the first time. Ray will be running point and Brock has the dog. I think Kelsey and Vic would work extremely well together but no again on the green and green thing. So rock, paper, scissors for Sonny, Trent and Full Metal."

"No," was the choruses from the three of them.

Blackburn looked at them. "Fine. I'm choosing then. Full Metal, you're going with Lt. Vanderhoek."

Full Metal looked at his commanding officer and then the Lieutenant. "Why me?"

"Because you have the experience as a team leader, you have the experience undercover and you can pass for her sugar daddy boyfriend," Blackburn said.

Sonny burst out laughing. "Sorry, man, but that was hilarious. You'll have so much fun."

Ray shook his head. "Naval Intel sent over the target package to us. I don't think its going to be a hard grab."

"Does Naval Intel have why they require me to grab this asset and why six guys can't just stuff this person in the back of a van in the middle of the night?" Kelsey asked.

Ray was looking through the target package. "It's not a snatch and grab. We will discuss it in the air."

"This is flat fucked. When do we leave?"

"Two hours," Davis said. "Vic will go home with you and you can pack a bag."

"I'm taking that as translation of don't do anything stupid in my two hours, don't talk to anyone and pack a bag of my skankiest club outfits I can find?"

Sonny laughed again. "Spencer, I've always liked your little sister."

Blackburn shook his head. Kelsey was something else, alright. This was going to be a fun mission. "Yes, that's the translation. And before I have to say anything, let's play it smart this mission. I do not want to have to explain how we fucked up a simple op to Naval Intelligence."

Everyone shared a look around the table, one that said this mission may not be as easy at the target package Naval Intelligence sent over.

* * *

 **AN: I mean, what could possibly go wrong on a simple op in the Netherlands?**


	18. Chapter 18

Kelsey awoke in Rotterdam the next morning to the hotel door opening and remembered she didn't sleep in this hotel room alone, although she did have the bed alone. Her first instinct was to reach for the gun underneath her pillow and then she saw the man coming through the door. "It's not even 6:00 a.m. and we are supposed to be on vacation," she muttered.

"You strike me as the type to get up at 05 00 every morning to go work out," he replied. "And I'm just doing my part as your boyfriend to bring you breakfast in bed. And put the fucking gun down."

She narrowed her eyes at him as she got out of bed. "Right. I totally believe that one. Do you even have a real name? All I've heard you referred to as Full Metal or Metal."

He handed over the bagel he got her. "Scott."

"Well thanks for the breakfast, Scott," she said as she started eating it. "What's the real reason for bringing me breakfast before 6 am?"

"Making sure nothing suspicious was out there. And Clay said you are a fucking bitch without your coffee in the morning."

Kelsey almost spat out the coffee she was drinking. "Well I won't argue that one. But we do have a full team of tier 1 operators in this hotel watching for something suspicious."

Scott ate his bagel and then turned to her. "You really think that you that hand off between the contact and you is going to go off this easy?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You really have this much misgivings about this op?"

He shrugged. "Having suspicions about Naval intel is a healthy life choice."

"Point taken."

He looked out the window and then looked at the operative he was working with who was sitting in the chair. "You okay to operate in the field?"

"What the fuck kind of question is that?"

"I'm your partner in this op, I can ask."

She shrugged. "I'm fine, Scott."

He crossed his arms, coffee in hand and looked at her. "I don't know if you remember, but I pulled you out of that house with Jason and Ray. I saw the look on yours and Rodriguez's faces."

Kelsey shook her head as she finished the bagel. "I don't need to relive what happened, thank you very much."

"Kinda tells me that maybe you are not okay."

"I compartmentalize. Isn't that what all of you do. Is it because I'm a fucking woman that ya'll are seriously wondering if I'm okay? If I was a guy, you wouldn't be asking this damn question!"

Scott looked at the window. "As your partner on this op, yeah, I think if you were a guy I'd be asking the same damn question. Look, Kels, I've been there and I've lost guys as a team leader. It's not something you just bounce back from. At all. I put my own blood into Keller and Ismet did CPR on him in that shack in Pakistan to try and keep him alive. I know. I fucking know. I fucking know how lucky you and Rodriguez were to walk into her house and not some jihadist who wanted to kill Americans on premise."

She rubbed her ring finger where her ring wasn't there. She had taken her rings off when she went home before she left. "Yeah, maybe that's what is haunting me. Losing Bauer and Keller. I was their Lieutenant. I'm responsible."

"No, the CIA is responsible. But this is what bothers me about you being back in the field so soon. Naval Intelligence never should have asked for you until you were cleared."

"I technically was," she said softly.

Scott rolled his eyes. "Because I believe that. Like it or not, you're not a battle hardened operative and the fact that you were tortured and lost two men on a routine patrol on your first deployment will stick with you. My job, as much as I hate it, is to make sure nothing happens to you on this second op. But I need to know if I can trust you not to crack under pressure." It was more talking this morning that he had done in six months he figured but he had experience in this stuff and she didn't.

"I'm good. Get the flash drive, get the fuck out. We're all good."

* * *

Ray looked at Clay as he took watch. He could get used to these city assignments. Pipe hitters like Jason and Sonny hated these types of assignments but Ray- after 18 years in the Teams, he didn't mind the easy ones in the city. But then again, sometimes these ones were the hardest. It wasn't a break through the door, kill the bad guy and get out situation. The nice thing about the city assignments is that they usually had decent sleeping gigs and for that Ray, was thankful.

"Anything happening out there?"

Clay shrugged. "Metal went for breakfast."

"Blackburn told him to order room service," Ray shook his head.

Clay shrugged again. "He came back with two coffees which means he took my advice on supplying my sister with coffee first thing in the morning."

"You gotta have some feelings about your sister being in the field again," Ray said.

He rubbed his face and then turned to Bravo 2IC. "Oh I have them."

"About her being in the field or working with Metal?"

"Both."

"Her husband has to know what goes on with being an intelligence operative," Ray asked. "I've met the guy and Patrick ain't stupid. There's no way he's naive to the fact of what goes on for a female intel officer. Mandy's going to have that conversation with her."

Clay shrugged. "I don't think they've had that conversation yet. I don't know how they are going to make it work, to be honest."

"You have doubts about their marriage?" Ray asked. That was the first he had heard about Clay having doubts.

"Kelsey was gunning for MARSOC when she started but I can't see her on that career path any longer. DIA is going to pick her up soon. And Patrick is probably going to go MARSOC Raiders if he stays in. Two classified careers? You tell me Ray, but I don't see how that works. I can't tell Sloane that much, although she's pretty smart and can guess, but at least she can tell me a lot about her day. And I like hearing about her day. Those two won't be able to."

Ray continued looking out the window. "I can't imagine anything harder."

"But I also can't imagine her with anyone but him. Patrick is good for her."

"Hard to have a career like that in the military like this and a marriage. Man or woman," Ray observed.

* * *

Kelsey finished adjusting her wig and rechecked her fake eyelashes. With the dark hair wig and the heavy makeup, Davis had confirmed yesterday on the plane through a trial run through of makeup that she looked nothing like her normal blonde self who never wore makeup except for maybe tinted moisturizer and mascara on a good day. "It's go time."

Scott looked down at his watch. "Wheels up in two hours. Let's roll."

She pressed the earwig that was in her ear, meaning she was now on comms with everyone. "Havoc Base, this is Sierra 2. Bravo 6 and I are leaving the hotel room." Davis had given her that call sign- it stood for Spencer 2. Kelsey was highly unimpressed. The guys found it hilarious. Metal was Bravo 6 for this go round as Clay was running as Bravo 2 with Ray being 1.

"Sierra 2, good copy," Blackburn said. "Get the flash drive, get out."

As Scott and her grabbed hands, to be the happy tourist couple they were supposed to be playing, they both exchanged that look that said this wasn't going to be good. They had a pre-determined meeting spot to meeting their contact, who they had no idea was, at a bridge in Rotterdam. From there, they would take the flash drive to the police department where someone from Naval Intelligence would hopefully be waiting. They were supposed to report Kelsey's purse being stolen at the police department. The contingency plan if they couldn't get to the local police department, was to take the flash drive straight to the plane. She still didn't know why this required her, despite her language skills, and a Tier 1 team. This was more of a CIA interns work or someone just coming from the Farm.

They got to the bridge and spotted the contact, or who they assumed was, based on the picture Naval Intel supplied. "2 o'clock, approaching from the west side," Kelsey said.

"Got him," Sonny replied. He, Ray, Clay and Vic were trying to blend into the crowd. Trent and Brock were milling about around the hotel, in case someone followed up on where Kelsey and Metal were staying and they fact they had set up operations in the hotel.

And then something happened. Their contact stopped approaching. Instead he decided to hand off the flash drive to someone not named Kelsey or Metal. He handed it off to a redheaded woman. They exchanged a hug and then went their separate ways.

"We got a problem. Our contact just handed the flash drive to a red headed woman that definitely wasn't me. Looks like they know each other," Kelsey said.

"Fuck," Blackburn said. "You and Bravo 6 go after the woman. The rest of Bravo, get this contact," Blackburn instructed. "Preferably alive on both of them."

Kelsey and Scott started off at a jog, hoping they could catch up to the redheaded woman. They finally caught up to her, but this time she had a backpack on. Where the hell did that come from? They followed her for several blocks.

"Where the fuck is she going?" Metal asked her.

"I think the train station."

Davis heard the exchange. "You are not authorized to be in another country."

Kelsey sighed. "Let's hope she gets on a train that stays in country then."

As Scott and Kelsey approached the train station, she shrugged and followed the redheaded lady in. They could hear on comms that Sonny and Vic had managed to covertly grab their supposed contact and were taking him back to the hotel. Naval Intel didn't want the CIA involved but if they weren't going to properly vet their asset- Blackburn was calling in the best CIA interrogator he knew; Mandy Ellis.

Kelsey talked in very rushed and harsh Dutch to a lady taking payment. In the end she walked away with two tickets.

"What did you tell her?" Scott asked.

"Shoved some money at her and told her to give me two tickets. She did what she was told."

The redheaded lady was getting on the International Line and Kelsey swore under her breath but she dragged Scott into the last door on the same car, away from the lady, hopefully to not be seen. She was not getting a good feeling about the backpack the lady was wearing.

"Bad news. She took the International Line," Kelsey said softly.

"You weren't supposed to get on that train," Blackburn admonished.

She leaned into Scott, pretending to be talking to him. "Made a judgment call. Hopefully she gets off at Antwerp or right across the Belgian line. We still need that flash drive."

All the sudden Scott was kissing her. Kelsey opened her eye for a crack and could see the redheaded lady glance away and then back out the train window once she realized they were pretty much making out. She really hoped she wouldn't have to use that distraction technique but it was a useful one.

Thirty minutes later, at the Antwerp stop, the redhead got off. Scott and Kelsey followed. Except very quietly, she placed a backpack by the turn styles. Scott was a SEAL and Kelsey had gone through enough training to know backpacks left in suspicious places were never good. Scott shook his head telling her not to do it, but taking her coat sleeve, to not get finger prints on it, she opened the backpack. And found a bomb. With a 30 second timer. "I can't disarm this. We gotta go after her," Kelsey said. "We just gotta scream bomb and get the fuck out of here."

Kelsey screamed bomb at the top of her lungs and people started running for their lives, like she had hoped. It was chaos. They started running too. That bomb only had 30 seconds on it if was a live one. The redhead had a good 20 seconds on them. As they ran for their lives, as much as they wanted to save lives, they had a mission to complete. One that might save thousands of sailors lives if that flash drive got into the wrong hands. Unfortunately it was a live bomb and both Kelsey and Scott paused as the Antwerp train station exploded.

They caught up to her, at a dead run, about 5 blocks from the train station. Kelsey had enough. "Stop!" She yelled. The lady didn't stop. "Ophounden!" she repeated in Dutch.

The redhead stopped and turned and faced Kelsey and Scott who immediately reached for the guns on their backs. "It's over," she replied in English.

"I will shoot," Kelsey warned. "Do not take another step. I can repeat this in Dutch as well. Stop."

Too late. The lady had reached for her gun and Kelsey and Scott both hit centre mass twice. She had four bullet holes in her.

Kelsey looked towards the alley that they were facing. Both her and Scott dragged the body there and began searching her until they found the flash drive in her purse. They found it. And then they took off in the other direction before neighbors called the cops about the gunfire. Most sirens seemed to be going in the direction of the train station though.

"Jackpot. Passing Kansas," Kelsey said into the comms.

Blackburn sounded tired. "Good read, Sierra 2. Passing Kansas. You and Bravo 6 are going to need to find somewhere to hold tight until we can get you out. I don't think the train is a possibility."

"Roger that."

"And where's the body so we can tell Antwerp Police where their bomber is?"

Scott chimed into the conversation. "I sent a picture to Davis with her body which should have the exact coordinates."

Davis came onto comms. "Sierra 2, how far are you from a rental car place?"

"Not far. I can probably bullshit my way through with my Dutch and false passport."

Blackburn sighed again. "Try that. Hopefully we can get us back to Florida soon."

"Roger that. Going for Florida." With any luck, she'd be across the border within 30 minutes and back within Rotterdam within the hour and wheels up within 90. But she had that flash drive.

* * *

An hour into their flight back home, Kelsey and Cerebus were sleeping on the floor of their C-130 and the guys were playing cards. Blackburn came down the steps and motioned for Ray. "We have a problem."

"A Kelsey problem, a Jason problem or a mechanical problem?" Jason was in Philly with Mikey who had just had emergency appendix surgery and that's why he wasn't on this op.

Blackburn scratched his beard. "Funny. I just got a call from SOCOM. We have a stop to make before heading home."

"Where?" Ray asked. It was unusual to get orders to turn the plane around while in mid-air.

"Addis Ababa. Two special envoys for the State Department were captured when their driver most likely purposely did not go to the airport. They were in Ethiopia for an African Union meeting."

Ray shook his head. "Fuck. We have a team in Djibouti, right? That's right next door to Ethiopia."

Blackburn shrugged. "They are in Nigeria right now. Pilot said he can get us to Addis Ababa in five hours."

"Well, this is our job so we will go do it."

Blackburn pointed to the girl on the floor. "She's my problem. It's a matter of whether she rolls with us."

"What's your call?"

"I'm not the one on the ground. I think either way some people at SOCOM are going to be pissed that we left her in the plane doing Intel, which is her job, but we didn't bring a female out to see if she can do it or very pissed that a female Marine is rolling with you. With that being said, she's pretty fucking qualified."

"I think we put it to a vote."

Blackburn motioned for the rest of the guys to quietly join him and Ray and debriefed them. "We are not going back to Virginia Beach. We are headed to Addis Ababa to rescue two special envoys to the State Department who got themselves in some hot water when their hired driver didn't drive them straight to the airport like he was supposed to. Now, the question is- does Kelsey roll with you?"

"Yes," Clay replied.

Sonny shook his head. "No. I hate rolling with straps."

Trent shook his head. "No. Same reasons as Sonny."

"Yes," Brock replied.

Vic shrugged, noncommittally. "We're down a man without Jason and she's probably the most qualified for a non-SEAL."

All eyes turned to Ray. Clay knew he was up for Warrant and this op would definitely make or break it if Kelsey was rolling with them. "I don't like it because she hasn't trained with us. I know she knows how to clear buildings and do it the right way, but she hasn't trained with us."

Clay put up his hand. "Not entirely true. We have trained her a little but I have been giving her pointers."

Now all eyes were on Full Metal because the quiet guy who never usually spoke but had the most experience, besides Ray, was the deciding vote. And he was the one that had just rolled with Kelsey. "My only concern is that she doesn't have a typical load out like we all have and hasn't shot or trained with it. She only has two side arms with her and fucking odd choices on those." She asked Davis to get her a CZ and a Beretta-92FS before they loaded. It was her CZ that she shot with and Scott was impressed with her shooting but he thought it was an odd style handgun to take when they had a lot more impressive ones.

Clay could feel Sonny's eyes burning into his brain. "She can use my second one. She has shot with it on the range before. I think she's also used a M7 at IOC."

Blackburn turned to Metal. "You rolled with her in the field. It was a little different style than this but do you think she can do this?"

He nodded. "She can." He had his concerns about her rolling in hot with them and would be dressing her down with Ray before going in but she had the skills.

Blackburn scratched his beard. "Better wake her up and tell her how you want her to clear a house."

Kelsey sat at the same table they were playing cards, lining up the sights of Clay's other MP7. It wasn't her favorite to run with but it would definitely do for today. As she boarded the plane in uniform, she wore her combat boots and skinny jeans along with her usual green undershirt. She already had a drop leg holster on, with her CZ in it.

Blackburn put a helmet and bulletproof vest on the table. "An hour until landing," he said. "Davis grabbed a helmet with night vision that she thought might fit you and this is her vest. Should fit."

"She's a good intel officer," Kelsey smiled.

Ray sat down. "On this mission, you listen to me. None of this officer bullshit."

"I thought that was a given."

Blackburn raised his eyebrows. "Quite frankly, I am a little worried about you taking orders from a Senior Chief. You stole a car in Belgium instead of going to the rental car place like Davis and I told you to."

Ray smiled, although he somewhat backed up Kelsey on that one. "You going to listen?"

"For the last time, I didn't steal a car. I borrowed it. And yes, I will listen to orders from Senior Chief Perry at all times while in the field, hell even SWO1 Quinn. I'll even listen to what my brother says for me to do."

Blackburn nudged the bulletproof vest forward. "I'll get Lopez and your brother to show you how to load your vest the way an operator really should."

After placing her bulletproof vest over her head that was full of extra ammo, grenades, the Beretta 92FS and stuff for breaching, her helmet with night vision goggles, and her guns, she was over the weight that she normally carried at IOC. And that was a bitch to carry. Clay just laughed at her adjusting to the weight of the vest and manoeuvring her drop leg holster. Thank God she was wearing skinny jeans. The rest of the guys tried to hide chuckles back as Clay eventually got her vest positioned the way she wanted it.

"You okay rolling with this set up?" Clay asked her.

She looked down at the rifle and then back at him and then to Sonny. "Don't have much of a choice, do I? But yeah, I'm good. Adapt and overcome, that's what you guys say, right?"

Sonny looked at her. "Damn girl, if you weren't married, I'd say you were every guy's dream here. Definite calendar worthy material right here. Even saying the right words."

"I try. Let's go get those men back."

"Oorah, Lieutenant," Lopez replied.

Trent held out a hand. "One question before we go. Why a CZ and a Beretta 92FS? Davis told you that you had your pick of handguns to take and you took those?"

"Are you all wondering why I picked those guns?"

"Yes," Brock answered.

Clay rolled his eyes and answered for her because he knew the truth. "Her hands are that big. Ours are not. A 9mm fits her hands better."

"I know a CZ is a very odd choice but I spent a lot of time on the firing range since I could and it's my preferred carry in combat situations."

Sonny nodded. "We will accept that explanation, odd choice for guns and all."

"Let's go boys."

* * *

 **AN: Nope, her rolling with a Tier 1 team ain't going to go over well.  
**


	19. Chapter 19

Clay, Kelsey and the rest of Bravo team boarded the helo that would take them to the target site in Addis Ababa. They would split into pairs, and some odd pairs at that Kelsey thought but she didn't roll with Bravo enough to know any better. Ray and Clay, Trent and Brock, Full Metal and Vic and her and Sonny. Sonny at first raised an eyebrow to Ray about the pairings but Blackburn had given Sonny a look in return that said to shut it.

As the helo touched down, Clay nodded at Kelsey and she nodded back. Dawn was starting to rise in the neighbor the target building they were hitting- horrible, horrible timing but they needed to get the special envoys out and fast so dawn it would be. Kelsey slipped her Oakleys on, one's bigger than the boys were wearing and with the French braid that Davis had done, it gave the bad guys a little bit of a glimpse into the fact that she was a woman.

"Sierra 2 and Bravo 3 at the west side, ready to breach," Kelsey said into comms.

"Bravo 5 ready to breach on the east side on your countdown," Trent said back into comms.

Ray gave the countdown. "3, 2, 1, breach."

Clay had never really been on a real op with his sister before and hearing her voice in his comms told him that but as soon as Ray said breach and Trent breached the door in front of him, all adrenaline and training kicked in and he wasn't worried about his sister. He knew Sonny would be watching her six. At least he better be.

They cleared the first six rooms and killed half a dozen al-Shabaab men. Before they got on the helo, Davis told them that al-Shabaab had taken responsibility for kidnapping Sean Carrey and Pete Zakaria which was surprising as al-Shabaab wasn't known for operating in Ethiopia and taking two special envoys to the State Department after an African Union meeting was a huge escalation in their policy.

And then Clay could hear and briefly see Kelsey scream "GRENADE" as she shoved Sonny out of the window as half of the house came down on them.

"Radio checks," Blackburn immediately said. He must have seen it on ISR.

"Bravo 3 and Sierra 2 are good. Finding another entrance into the house," Sonny said, winded.

"Good here," Brock said.

"We're good," Vic said.

Clay sighed and looked at Ray. "Bravo 1 and I are good. Still need to pass Gretzky and Lemieux."

Davis sigh could be audibly heard over the comms. "Good to hear."

They cleared room after room until they found Zakaria, bound, beaten and left for dead with a guard over him. Thankfully Vic and Full Metal had the foresight to not shoot the remaining guard as the rest of the house had been cleared.

"Where's the other person you took?" Metal asked in broken Arabic.

Ray and Clay came into the room. "What's the hold up?"

"Only Zakaria is here. No sign of Carrey." Trent quickly came into the room and got Zakaria.

Clay took a run at the guard. "Where's Carrey? Where's the other prisoner?" He said in Arabic and then in English as he doubted the guard spoke either of those languages. Instead the guard spat near Clay.

Sonny and Kelsey came into the room next. "What's going on?" Sonny asked.

"Trying to get out of this fucker where Carrey is," Clay said.

Ray waved them away. "You guys go and do overwatch with Bravo 4 and 5."

Kelsey shook her head. "I'm going to pull rank here. I'm the Intel Officer on the ground, I will get it out of him."

Everyone in the room prepared for the showdown between an experienced Senior Chief and an inexperienced Lieutenant, who had a point. Ray finally shrugged. "Vic, go with Sonny."

Ray turned to her after Sonny and Vic left. "Why the fuck are you pulling rank on me."

She took her off her helmet. "Because the only thing this guy hates more than you is me because a I'm a woman."

"You look like you understand English so I'm going to give you two options. Tell me where Sean Carrey is or you spend an entire flight beside me and then get put into Leavenworth and then probably Gitmo," she explained to him.

The al-Shaabab terrorist looked at Clay and then back at Kelsey. "I do not know where Sean Carrey is."

Kelsey then took out her sidearm. "We are going to try this again because I think you know more than you are telling us. I can repeat this in Arabic if you wish." Her Arabic was rudimentary at best but she could probably spit it out.

"No Arabic."

"Then you understand just fine."

"What are you doing with that gun?" Clay warned.

She glared at him. "Stay out of it."

"Don't do this," Ray said.

"I'm not going to kill him," Kelsey said, making sure the terrorist knew that. "But I might blow his balls off."

Every man in the room cringed at the thought, including the terrorist. "I do not know where Sean Carrey is."

"But you were privy to them beating up the man that was in here?"

"No."

Kelsey shook her head and too the safety off her gun and made sure he could see that. "That's how I know you are lying to us. Because Pete Zakaria was a bloody, half to death mess when we walked in here five minutes ago. Last chance buddy. Where's the other man?"

He didn't respond so Kelsey opened his legs and fired one round very close to his groin. Clay had turned away, expecting her to actually fire one into his body. Even Ray and Metal had somewhat expected her to do that.

She still had her gun in her hand and looked at the terrorist expectantly. "Next one goes in your balls. And if you think I'm joking, just see the look on their faces. I'm not. Where the fuck in Sean Carrey?"

To his credit, the terrorist looked scared enough finally that she may follow through with the bullet in this balls. But he still didn't look at her. He looked at Clay. "I believe the man you are referring to as Mr. Carrey in in the building two doors down, to the east."

Ray looked at Kelsey and shook his head. "Bravo 3,4 and 5 please be advised that the combative here says that Carrey is in a building two doors down to the east. Vic, remain on overwatch."

"He fucking better be there or I'm telling Blackburn about this little stunt," Ray told her.

She shrugged as she holstered her CZ in her drop leg holster. "Gotta do what you gotta do."

Not more than two minutes passed by when Trent came on comms. "Jackpot. Passing Lemieux." They had found Carrey. "He's in even worse shape than Zakaria though."

"We've been here way too long," Clay said. "We need to get out of here."

Blackburn must have been reading his mind as he spoke into comms. "Helo will be at the LZ in 2 minutes."

Ray looked over at Kelsey again as he lifted the hostage off the floor. "I have no idea if we are taking this joker into custody with us or turning him over into Ethiopian hands but let's go."

"I didn't touch him," Kelsey held out her hands in surrender before picking up her rifle and providing cover for Ray.

Clay shook his head. "We got Carrey, let's go."

As they got onto the plane, Metal sat beside her. "Surprised you were willing to torture someone so quickly after you were tortured."

She looked at Metal as Sonny and Vic piled into the helo. "Still working through it."

* * *

As the C-130 touched down at NAS Oceana, the air base on the same grounds that DEVGRU was held on, Clay looked at his sister and sighed. She looked beat. Instead of sleeping, she got all of her AAR's done from Rotterdam/Antwerp and Addis Ababa and in more depth than any of the guys would ever provide and handed into Blackburn. Clay noticed she left out her pretty much torture to get the information on Sean Carrey's location. He didn't know if he approved of that or not because he didn't know what Ray or Metal would write in theirs.

Captain Lindell was waiting on the airfield for them, which was not a good sign. "Briefing in 20 mins," was all he said as the cargo door opened.

Kelsey shrugged. "In that case, I'll find my own ride home. See ya boys."

"Not so fast, Lieutenant. This concerns you as well."

She raised an eyebrow at the Navy Captain. "Understood, sir."

20 minutes later on the dot, Bravo plus Kelsey, plus Charlie and Delta teams were sandwiched into the briefing room. Even the almighty Jason Hayes was in attendance, in uniform, which got an eyebrow raise from all of Bravo. They thought they were being called onto the carpet for the civilian casualty loss in Antwerp. It was clearly not that.

"You brought your girlfriend to a briefing?" one of the Delta guys teased Clay when he saw Kelsey, mainly because Kelsey sometimes was a regular fixture at Bulkhead with Bravo or Matt Parker. Delta had been spun up at Kelsey's promotion ceremony though so he really didn't know who exactly she was.

Clay laughed. "Too bad she has a higher security clearance than you."

The Delta guy looked over at Kelsey who was talking to Lisa. "Who exactly is she?"

Clay shook his head. "Lt. Kelsey Vanderhoek. Also known as my sister."

"Holy shit. What is she doing here?"

"Same thing you are."

Captain Lindell stepped to the front. "In about 15 minutes the rest of the world will know that in simultaneous attacks, the United States killed Hezbollah leader Adan Haddad in Lebanon and Mohammad Hassan, a senior member of al-Shaabab in Mogadishu this afternoon. The retribution is going to be swift and fierce."

Clay surveyed the look of the faces in the room. Some in shock, some surprised and some keeping a straight face. He looked at his own sister who had her mouth in a tight line. He knew her thoughts- Hezbollah meant Israel and Israel meant her. She fluently spoke Hebrew and not many officers in the US Military did. And she had a mother that was believed to be Mossad. He barely heard Lindell continue speaking. "This will change our op tempo."

"Alpha Team is already on route to Djibouti from Bagram, awaiting word from AFRICOM on what the next step will be," Blackburn said, reading a brief. He too had been in the dark.

Lindell continued. "The op tempo is going to be quick and dirty deployments and quick turnaround at home, most likely. We do not want you staying in country as some of past deployments for special operators."

Blackburn took a deep breath. "There are some of you who have special language skills that will be called upon as well."

"Until further notice, you are all on two hour recall notice. Dismissed."

Everyone started to file out, somewhat in disbelief at the turn of events. Lindell got Jason's attention. "I need to see you in my office right away, Master Chief."

Jason looked confused as hell. He was still in civilian clothes as he, and other operators, had gotten a text to come in ASAP. "Yes, sir."

Lindell closed the door behind Jason and Blackburn. "As soon as I got the call about the strikes, I've gotten one call from Lt. Vanderhoek's detailer, another from Brigadier General Bennett and a message from Lt. Col McKenzie, who is teaching over at the intel school that he wants to see me."

Jason held up his hand. "I thought the General dropped his papers after he ordered helo's into Pakistan to go rescue Lt. Vanderhoek and her Marines after the Joint Chiefs explicitly told him no action in Pakistan?"

Lindell sighed behind his desk. "I did too but he didn't drop his papers. Which means I have to yes, sir him. "

"Why the calls right this second?" Blackburn asked, although that was more rhetorical than anything.

"First person gets her, gets her language skills and her connection to Mossad," Lindell said. "That's basically what Bennett told me. He was adamant on keeping his promise of 3-3 and Hawaii to her."

Jason groaned. "Why is everyone calling you right now?"

"Because somehow word got out that Naval Intel put her out on the streets, so to speak, with the big boys and now the offers are rolling in. And she's in my chain of command right now for the next 12 hours until she goes back to class. 8 civilians died in that train station in Antwerp though, I don't like that."

Blackburn sighed heavily. "I don't condone what she did at all but I have the intelligence to say that if she didn't open that backpack, a lot more deaths would have happened. The contact is in interrogation with Mandy Ellis and we have a positive facial recognition on the bomber."

"Who?" Lindell asked.

"A Russian woman by the name of Larissa Rostova."

Lindell shook his head. "Back to Spencer, whatever her name is. I don't want her unless she's going through SERE and has her jump wings."

Jason shrugged. "Make that Air Force SERE. You tell her detailer that, her detailer makes sure she goes to those schools right away, she gets assigned to MCIA and then from there MCIA can loan her out to whoever the fuck they want, including the Navy."

Lindell looked at his Master Chief. "Sure you are just a pipe hitter?"

"I know, I just made a great career plan for her."

Lindell leaned back in his seat. "I'll run it up to her detailer. Are you sure you won't mind running with her in the future?"

Jason shrugged. "She's green but I think in the right situations, she'd be useful."

"I agree."

* * *

Clay and Kelsey returned back to the apartment where Sloane was making dinner. All she did was lift her eyebrows in surprise when both of them walked through the door. Clay gave her a quick kiss while Kelsey went straight to her phone. She emerged two seconds later.

"He call you?"

Sloane sighed. "Yeah."

"What did you tell him?"

She shrugged. "The truth. I was at work but considering your personal gun was still in the gun safe, your phone was on your desk and most of your uniforms were still in the closet and Clay was also gone told me you were spun up. I told your husband that you were most likely with Clay."

"Huh."

Sloane looked at Kelsey in the eye. "Call Patrick. He's worried. And Victoria also called wondering why you weren't answering. Her and I had a nice conversation, and that's not sarcasm either."

She looked at her brother and then Sloane. "I'll call my husband later. I'm going to Matt's right now."

"Don't drink yourself into oblivion. It's a school night and we technically are on recall," Clay reminded as Kelsey rolled her eyes and closed the door.

Sloane returned to the stove. "I don't like that look on her."

Clay grabbed his own beer out of the fridge and sent a warning text to Matt Parker about Kelsey's probability to start drinking and not stop. "Neither do I."

"Patrick's coming home within the next two weeks."

Clay stopped drinking his beer. "You neglected to tell her that, why?"

Sloane turned to face him. "He wants to keep it a surprise."

"Oh this is going to go over so well."

Sloane took the frying pan off the burner. "No shit. I hope there's enough for both of us. I didn't think you would be home."

He just looked at her. "I'm just glad to be home, babe."

Sloane was lying on the couch, watching the news when Clay, freshly showered, came back. Into the room. "I thought you didn't watch the news on purpose."

She looked at him. "I try not to, especially when you are spun up but I do like to stay informed, especially since the US just assassinated two major foreign targets."

Clay lifted her head and sat down and she laid her head on his lap and he started playing with her hair. "Yeah."

"When do you leave?" Sloane quietly asked.

"We are on two hour notice."

"Kels too?"

"Yeah."

Sloane continued watching the news. "How long of a spin up?"

"Funny you should ask. Apparently they are changing the op tempo. Quick deployments, quick down time at home."

She turned a little bit. "Kind of makes sense. You have guys like Patrick who are spec ops and have been in country way too damn long and you see why."

At the sound of Patrick's name, Sloane's phone buzzed on the table and Clay picked it up. They didn't keep anything from each other in their relationship, save for state secrets which Sloane pretty much guessed right through, so they knew each other's passwords. Sloane just knew she couldn't read most texts from the guys and especially Davis. "Patrick's in California."

Sloane turned to fully face Clay. "Excuse me."

"This is what the text says. 'Surprise. Just landed at Pendleton. Got told to get the fuck out of wherever I was late last night and it was a quick get out. Doing paperwork tonight because of said quick get out but mom booked me on a flight out of San Diego to Norfolk tomorrow. Should land around 5:12 p.m. Will text you my flight details later. Can you pick me up? Also, how hard would it be to get a Space-A to Beaufort or a flight?'"

Sloane laid there for a minute. "Wow, okay. That's really interesting. Text him back and say. 'I'll pick you up or maybe Matt but someone will for sure be there. No go on the Space-A or Beaufort; I'll book you something for the weekend.'"

Clay typed out the text and pressed send and looked down at Sloane. "Why no Beaufort?"

"She's on a two hour recall notice, you dumbass. I'm not going to tell him that in a text though."

"Right. You have a plan, babe? Virginia Beach isn't exactly romantic for them to be spending a weekend together when they haven't seen each other in eight months, save for Afghanistan which is hardly romantic."

Sloane rolled her eyes. "Funny enough, a girl I went to high school with is a manager of vacation rentals in Corolla, North Carolina. I doubt they are busy at this time of year so I'll shoot her a text. It's two hours away so within recall time if god forbid WWIII starts this weekend."

"You continue to surprise me everyday, Stephanie."

"Did Patrick have knowledge of the strike beforehand and where exactly was he that he had to get the hell out of Dodge?"

Clay looked at her. "Those are both two very good questions that you and I both do not want the answers to." It was ones that he was wondering himself ever since he read that text. He knew Patrick had been on a Recon mission to Turkmenistan but as far as he thought, his 'home base' was Kandahar and with the strikes, he should have been safe. If he was operating in Iraqi or Syrian borders, well, that could be cause for concern.

"What do you think Kels' reaction will be? She has no idea he's coming home."

Clay shrugged. "She'll be happy, I think but it's going to be a huge shock. I'm not sure I entirely agree with Patrick keeping it a secret but here goes nothing tomorrow."

"Here goes nothing."

"Speaking of here goes nothing, why don't you fully move in. Like give up your place with Rachel and Melissa and move in?"

To her credit Sloane didn't really move. "Nice pre-deployment talk, Mr. Spencer."

He rolled his eyes. "It doesn't make sense to be paying two rents when you spend more time here than not."

"What if I want if I need an emotional support system when you're deployed?"

That's when he knew she was joking. "Give my sister a call. It will be a hoot."

"I already told Rachel last month I was moving out on the 1st."

Clay looked at her. "That's in ten days. When were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what? That I was going to move a tiny bit more clothes in here and I wasn't going to go home every tenth night? You've been gone for most of this month. Wasn't exactly a conversation I wanted to have over the phone, even if we could talk. Plus you already asked me to move in six months ago and I pretty much already live here, cook for you and do your laundry when you're home."

"I guess I did."

"You did. Still, nice pre-emptive deployment talk though. Gotta give credit where credit is due."

"I thought it was great timing."

She nodded, still watching the news. "Impeccable, giving what's transpiring."

"I do love you, Stephanie Mae." Clay fell in love with her, a large part to due with the fact of how she handled his job. She never once complained about spin ups, deployments, she knew how the military worked, she got the fact that she couldn't know about his job or his sister's job and again never complained about it. He fell in love with her because on the things they could talk about, she challenged him more than anyone had, including Mandy or Jason or his sister. She had well thought out arguments. He fell in love with her on the fact that away from the job, they had the same hobbies like going to the gym or playing video games but she wasn't afraid to go out on the town with her friends or his sister. He fell in love with her because even when she absolutely hated mornings, she would get herself out of bed to cook him breakfast some mornings.

She looked at him. "Still don't know why I fell in love with a sailor."

* * *

Kelsey couldn't really believe her eyes the next night when she parked her truck at the apartment complex. She was exhausted, pissed off and very hungover. She was still a little jet lagged and the instructor, Lt. Col McKenzie had told her she had the weekend to get the homework done that she had missed while on a legitimate assignment for the Marine Corps. Wasn't like she was sick or on leave, she was working for the Corps and still got the shit end of the stick.

And then she saw Sloane, Clay and what really looked like her husband in civilian clothes near the entrance. Leaving her purse in her truck, she went to go see if her eyes really were playing her. And they weren't. Her husband really was home, on US soil, in Virginia Beach.

She ran so fast and jumped into his arms. A little funny given the fact that she was in uniform jumping into his arms and he was the one coming home but she didn't care. "What the fuck," was all she said.

Patrick put her down and gave her a long kiss, even though it hadn't been super long since he had kissed her goodbye in the aid station at FOB Salerno in Afghanistan. "Got mad skills."

Clay heard that. "More like the Corps has mad skills at getting you home in under 24 hours."

Kelsey looked at Sloane, Clay and then back at her husband. "How the hell did you keep this a surprise."

He pointed to Sloane. "Turns out she can keep a good one."

"I am still a little in shock," Kelsey replied. "You guys did good. One important question though. How long is your leave?"

"16 days."

She smiled at her husband, Clay and Sloane. "Well we have 16 days to have the most fun we can possibly have. Before WWIII starts and all that."


	20. Chapter 20

Kelsey stared at the ceiling in her barracks room at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Thankfully, as an officer, she was in the officer's quarters and that was slightly better than what enlisted got but barracks sucked non the less, no matter where you were. She had made the decision with her husband that because her time at MCBH was so short, she knew no one here, it was probably going to be easier to stay on base than trying to find a short time rental on Oahu. Comparing some of the rental costs on what some of her fellow officers were paying to live off base, she was pretty glad she made the decision. But sometimes living on base sucked balls.

Her sixteen days with Patrick had flown by. Way too fast. To her rather amazement, the 4 of them- her and Patrick, Clay and Sloane had managed to do every fun thing in Virginia Beach during the 16 days. They went swimming one day, paintballing, bowling, went to the movies, went clubbing, had a chilli cookoff at Ray's place with Dan serving as the judge and overall had the time of their lives. They realized how fun it was to be normal twenty something year olds instead of three of them were active duty military, two of them under two hour recall notice, and all of them, including Sloane, wished during that sixteen days they hadn't signed their lives away to Uncle Sam.

Her and Patrick did have a chance for a serious conversation though. They both realized that they had sucked at communication during their deployments. Their sixteen days of fun made Kelsey realize that she had her serious demons to work on and she did see the counselor that Ray recommended on base during that time and told Patrick about it. In return of her telling him about her demons about her being tortured with Rodriguez in Pakistan and then turning around and basically torturing someone for information in Ethiopia, Patrick had told her that he didn't want to stay in the Marines past his active duty contract. Which was surprising as hell because when they got married, they essentially agreed that she would do her first contract, reconsider reupping but he would do his full 20. He told her that he wanted to be an accountant instead, focusing on forensic accounting. He already had a mathematics degree with an emphasis in econ from the Naval Academy, so he knew he liked numbers. He reminded his wife that he had always been like his mom, instead of his dad, so to leave the "family business" of the military, shouldn't be a huge shock. And the more Kelsey thought about it, it wasn't. She told him she'd support him either way.

And he supported her in the fact that she knew she would be assigned to the Marine Corps Intelligence Agency after her time at MCBH was over. SERE had come before Hawaii and that was a bitch. The powers that be sent her to the Air Force's version and she didn't ask why. She had already been held captive and tortured but the instructors preyed on that. She didn't break though. Three weeks into being the XO at 3-3, she got told to go jump school so she took one of her Corporals who was getting insanely high evals and wanted to go to Recon. The Corporal enjoyed jump school more than she did. She hated every moment of it and wanted to steal a car and head for Virginia as fast as she could; but she stuck it out. She thought jump school was worse than IOC, which earned some huge chuckles from Sonny when she called 'home' one day. But with SERE and jump school out of the way, she knew it was a matter of time before MCIA called her to go on a mission. She also knew it wasn't necessarily with a SEAL team, or Bravo.

She had continued seeing a therapist on base here, which was helping. The Antwerp train station incident was still weighing heavy on her mind. Mandy had contacted through channels that weren't exactly standard to let her know that by no fault of hers and Full Metal's were they to blame for what happened and they should not shoulder any of the weight of what went down. In fact, if they hadn't ran after the red headed woman, she said, a lot more deaths would have happened. Basically, they took down the head of a major spy ring and by all accounts, terror organization, that day when she decided to chance after her and get on the train after strict orders not to. The therapist here was doing a good job at unpacking the emotional rollercoaster that was operating. Kelsey sincerely wondered how veterans of the game, like Jason, did it.

One other thing she was dealing with the therapist was Afghanistan. And what happened on base with Captain Fall. Special Agent Jenna Cowan had finally gone to her chain of command, Jason and Blackburn's chain of commands to testify. And she had no choice. Orders were orders. If this was a civilian court, she would try and her very expensive lawyer to get her out of testifying, but this was a court martial. Mickey Crawford, her very expensive lawyer, told her to do what Jenna said. So they went to Quantico and testified. Captain Fall getting the book thrown at him- guilty on all charges was not surprising but there was no relief for Kelsey. Even with his most serious charge of undue command influence that just about ruined her career if not for Brigadier General Bennett stepping in and putting a stop to the nonsense. The only good to come out of the court martial was that she got to have drinks with Lt. Noah Smith and her good buddy, Lt. Austin Briggs before having to go back to Dam Neck. Afghanistan had really fucked her up good.

The thing about Hawaii was the time zone difference. She wasn't that far off of Patrick, which was nice, because they were able to talk lots. And they got good at communicating because long distance was no easy feat. But after living so close with Clay and Sloane, off and on, it was hard to be so far from them and not able to talk to them lots. Clay hadn't been spun up much and that was driving him up the wall. Even Sloane had mentioned that she wished they were on a long spin up to get him back to baseline. She was good for him and the last time Kelsey and her brother talked, she told him to put a "fucking ring on her goddamn finger". Whether he'd listen to her advice was another story.

She heard a knock on the door and got up from staring at the ceiling. The Warrant Officer, she found out his name- Jimmy Brookman, who went to bat for her after she beat the Corporal in Afghanistan to a pulp and left him in ICU, was stationed at MCBH. He was her saving grace to this base so far. Pretty much everyone else has ostracized her, mainly because she was only here for a short time, except the pilots. The pilots digged the fact that she was basically special operations and accepted her. She appreciated that; however she didn't appreciate the sometimes disgusting comments and the regular cheating they did on their girlfriends and wives but that seemed to be par for the course in the military.

Jimmy opened the door slowly, to make sure she was decent. "We're going out right now to that new bar. Get dressed."

Kelsey sighed. This was a thing with the pilots. Every night, one of them, usually trying to hit on her, would come to her room and try to get her to go out with then. Depending on who was asking, she would. Jimmy was engaged, his fiancée back home in North Carolina at their last duty station, and so far she hadn't see him cheat on her so that made Jimmy a good guy in her books. "Really, Jimmy. Really?"

Jimmy came into her room and passed her a shirt that was sitting on a chair. "Put it on. You knew this invitation was coming."

"Yeah, I did," Kelsey said, taking the shirt. "I'll meet you outside in fifteen."

Jimmy smiled. "That's what I like to hear."

Before she left, she slipped off her real rings and put her silicone ring on. For some reason, her gut was telling her to do that, So she did. Her gut was also telling her she probably shouldn't be going out tonight but if she did, she'd be safe with Jimmy and the guys. They would take care of her.

She was leaving the bar, and half way drunk and about to get into an Uber with Jimmy and Travis, another pilot, when she spotted her gut reason of why she shouldn't have come to the bar.

"You two have my six, right?" Kelsey turned to Jimmy.

Jimmy nodded, although not completely trashed. That was the agreement. Kelsey would go out but one of the guys that she trusted in the squadron- Jimmy, Travis or Carlos, would stay somewhat sober. They agreed on that. Travis was the sober one tonight. "What's up?"

She turned to Travis. "You also have bail money if HPD decides to take me in, as well?"

Travis didn't ask questions. He just nodded.

So Kelsey approached her gut reason for why she shouldn't have gone to the bar. Jimmy and Travis were right behind her. "Are you fucking following me?"

Ash Spencer turned around. "Darling! It's so good to see you."

"Dad, what the fuck are you doing in Hawaii?"

Ash stepped forward to hug her but Kelsey took a step backwards. Jimmy and Travis stayed put. With Jimmy and Travis both at 6'1', and 220 lbs they weren't small guys and they looked intimidating. That's what Kelsey hoped for. "My book publisher moved here and so I thought I should fly out here and meet with her before its released."

"How many state secrets are leaked in that newest book? Has the DOD screened your manuscript?" Kelsey asked. She shared a glance with Jimmy. Jimmy, even though half drunk, seemed to know exactly who the man standing in front of Kelsey was.

"No state secrets."

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. "Your conversations with NCIS Special Agent Jenna Cowan make the book?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "If they did, it's not classified information."

She was fuming mad. "I'd love to know how you found out I was here."

Ash shrugged again, this time it wasn't so friendly. "I have friends in high places still."

"I bet you do. Leave Clay and I alone for Christ's sakes."

"Surprised you haven't mentioned your husband in the threatening part," Ash sneered. "Or are you stepping out on him with one of these guys?"

Kelsey didn't even react to the low blow. She had heard through Clay that Ash had become unglued when he heard she had gotten married. With that being said, Ash had no idea who she was married to. He would be a lot more scared if he knew she was married to a US Senator's son. "Nah, Dad. Cheating is what you do, not me. Good luck finding my husband though."

Ash dropped one more bombshell. "Surprised you're not overseas right now though. What happened to your deployment?. I am surprised to run into you at this bar. Heard your mom wasn't with the Company anymore. Is she back in Israel?"

Ash knowing about a deployment wasn't surprising; after she was taken they would have had to have questioned him. Knowing Leah wasn't with the CIA anymore, that was a little more alarming. Especially insinuating that she was back with Mossad. "You and mom going steady again?"

"I can't stand your mom."

Kelsey stepped into his personal space. She may have not spoken to Leah Wellington since Afghanistan but Leah was still her mom and she didn't take too kindly to Ash threatening her mom. "There's a NCIS Agent who opened the leak investigation who's now stationed in Okinawa, who I believe actually happens to maybe fall into my AOR. He really hates you and all that you stand for. I'm gonna call him about this little conversation."

Ash looked a little scared because he knew NCIS poking more into his personal life was not good for business. "Go ahead, kid."

Kelsey turned around, Jimmy and Travis right beside her. "Good chat, Dad. Maybe you can call Clay for my number again on my birthday to make your yearly amends. Actually, fuck that. Fucking forget about us. You've been a piss poor father all of our lives. Forget about us for once and for all."

Kelsey called the only person she could think of that might be able to help her once Jimmy and Travis got her back to base safely. She knew she was ultra safe from Ash here. Before she called Okinawa and asked for Eddie Bell's help. Mandy Ellis. And given the fact that Mandy answered her sat phone on the first ring meant she was overseas.

"Well, this better be good. And what time is it in Hawaii anyways?"

"It's not," Kelsey replied. "And it's around 2 am."

"Then this better be really good," Lt. Commander Eric Blackburn's voice came on the line.

"Commander," Kelsey said politely.

"Tell Mandy whatever you were going to tell her before you realized I was here," Blackburn instructed.

Kelsey sighed. "I need to know whether my mother is Mossad, officially or not."

"Why?" Mandy asked.

"Ran into Ash tonight at a bar in Kaneohe Bay. Whether that's an accident or not, that's up to you and your trust in him. In the midst of me telling him to fuck off, he mentioned that he knew my mother wasn't CIA anymore and was working for Mossad. And if there's one thing I know- there's no love lost between my parents and they wouldn't calling each other just to chat. I also know that the CIA doesn't exactly post a list of their operatives on Wikipedia for the world to find out or Ash Spencer."

Mandy groaned. "Oh this is going to be good."

"My next call is to NCIS Special Agent Eddie Bell."

Blackburn sighed. "Isn't that the Special Agent that started the leak investigation into your brother and you?"

"Semantics but yes. But he hates my father more than most people so if anyone is going to go after Ash Spencer hard, it's going to be Eddie."

"I'll make some calls," Mandy promised.

"All I ask."

* * *

Clay was pretending to sleep as he heard the one sided conversation of Commander Blackburn and Mandy as they spoke quietly above him in the plane. Whatever they were speaking about, it definitely involved him. He knew that much. For most of the past two years, questions and answers regarding the leak investigation, Ash Spencer and Kelsey were talked about at a higher pay grade than his and he was kept in the dark. All he knew was that an agent named Eddie Bell had placed his name under a leak investigation. For all he was concerned about, Blackburn was also not concerned so he stayed out of the politics regarding his father and sister.

The only thing he was concerned about was the fact that Ash seemed to rock the boat as far as Kelsey and his relationship. They both hated their father but for some reason they did not agree on how to handle it. Kelsey detested the fact that Clay was even willing to pick up Ash's phone calls or speak to him in person. To him- he was still his father even though Clay really did hate the guy. He could see Kelsey's side as well. As far as she was concerned- her father was Jon Wellington. And Dan Shanahan had no problems stepping up to the plate as her father-in-law to be that father figure she could trust.

He enjoyed those 16 days that Patrick was in town for and his relationship with Kelsey was even stronger after she got her shit together and went to see the therapist. Those 16 days were a lot of fun and he also saw a side to Sloane that made him love her a little more. She was willing to try anything. Even splashing around in the local swimming pool with a Navy SEAL and a guy who the Naval Academy wanted to swim for. Hell, she was even willing to go to the shooting range against three overachieving active duty military members and laughed about it. She even dragged Kelsey with her old roommates out for a wine and paint night so Patrick could have a night with his parents who were in town mainly during the two weeks, as everyone expected. She had Dan and Michelle over for dinner without hesitation, although Dan and Michelle were everyone's surrogate parents and no one complained. Overall, Clay was falling head over heels for Stephanie Sloane.

They did have their first huge fight during those 16 days. Sloane always did her hair and makeup before work and to Clay's standard "took forever." She said that she liked doing her hair and makeup after spending 4 years in uniform and then university where no one gave a shit. So Clay mainly used Kelsey's bathroom as she was always gone before him and her definition of getting ready was putting her hair in a perfect bun and putting enough concealer on to make her not look so horrifically exhausted. With Patrick staying, he couldn't use that bathroom all the time. Which led to a fight of how long Sloane took getting ready and were they really ready to move in together. They got over the fight in about six hours after Sonny pointed out to him that he was being a jackass- he had dealt with way worse situations for way longer, dealing with his girlfriends hair and makeup in the bathroom was not a huge convenience.

And then Kelsey finished her course and went to SERE and then moved to Hawaii. He knew it was going to happen. People didn't usually stay at the same base for long and he knew that they were going to be split up. Sloane kept reminding him of that- it was the military. They had been extremely lucky in the fact that her courses had been in Dam Neck so they could get to know each other and live together. Clay just couldn't remember a time when his sister wasn't a part of his life. It was nice to have Sloane to "himself" but damn did the apartment feel empty without Kelsey or Matt Parker always coming by. He had also been given PCS orders. This time to Great Lakes- to train Navy recruits.

He was woken up or startled by Blackburn coming by the stairs. His commanding officer took a seat beside where Clay was racked out in his hammock.

"I'm assuming you heard the phone call?" Blackburn asked.

Clay shrugged. "Which one?" He feigned ignorance.

Blackburn cracked his knuckles. "Naval Intelligence just gave me a call. They want to do a joint operation with the Israeli's and they need your sister for her language skills."

"Oh boy."

"She's going to need a bodyguard and someone else with language skills to go to Israel. Anyone else you can think of?"

Clay laughed. "Can I volunteer myself?"

Blackburn laughed. "I'll talk to the powers that be and let you know."

"You knew this call was coming."

"I did. Is her head on straight?"

Clay thought about it. The Ash thing might have her rattled but he knew his answer. "Her head is on straight."

"Good. Because we're counting on her."


End file.
